Ex-Governor Pig FarmerTo: Governor@state.nd.us
From: Alfred Bone Shirt
Subject: N.D. Pig farmer ex-Governor
Enclosed email is a message concerning some info on a Ex-Governor who is in collusion with Bell Farms with financial interests somewhere around $100,000,000 trying to force their stink huge Pig farm on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. This info is circulating to various watch dog and Human Rights groups, nationally as well international. Yes, we are concerned for economic development. But At Our Own choosing! Yes, We are a nation with several Teaties with your United States. The will of the people here on the Rosebud Indian reservation says NO to this PIG farm. Word on ground zero here on the Rosebud is that money is being sent under the table to corrupt Tribal officials. Is there no integrity.
__________________________________________
Neal -
Senator Conrad of North Dakota is very concerned about the status of the
Hog Farm at Rosebud.
Jackie Cheek and I met today with Bob Van Heuvelen, Chief of Staff for
Senator Conrad and coincidentally a former boss of mine from EPA, and
with Tracee Gross, Senator Conrad's Legislative Assistant.
Apparently a former Governor of North Dakota has some financial interest
in the hog farm, and cailed Senator Conrad with concerns about the Court
of Appeals decision. Mr. Van Heuvelen stated that there was $100 million at stake, presumably for Bell Farms in total, and not just for the former
Governor. The Senator also has general concerns about the effect of the
Court of Appeals decision on economic development in Indian Country. Thus
the interest from the North Dakota delegation regarding a South Dakota hog
farm. We indicated your active interest in economic development in Indlan
Country, as well.
You and Solicitor Myers will receive a letter later today or early
tomorrow from Senator Conrad, seeking your commitment to:
1. Take a personal involvement in resolving the issue of what happens with
the hog farm. Mr. Van Heuvelen suggested that you facilitate a resolution
between the Tribe, Bell Farms, and the environmental groups.
[Although I think you can play a role in helping resolve this, as you have
offered to do, I don't think you can play as active a role as Mr. Van
Heuvelen was suggesting. BIA would have to be a party to any true
facilitation process, and could not therefore serve as the mediator. If
the parties thought using a mediator would assist with the decision-making
process, we could either financially support that process or refer it to
the DOl's Office of Coliaborative Action and Dispute Resolution for
assistance. A mediation on this dispute might help resolve issues between
the Tribe, Bell Farms and BIA, but I doubt that the environmental parties >that object to the hog farm would agree to participate in such a process.]
2. Commit to support whatever NEPA process becomes necessary. Specitcally,
Mr. Van Heuvelen asked me to prepare a list of the things we would need to
do to either redo an environmental assessment or supplement the existing
one, if the Tribe decided to allow the two existing facilities to remain.
I can work on that with the Region and the Solicitor's office.
[Some members of the Council have apparently expressed interest in having
a full EIS done even if just the two facilities remain. My Division has
set aside some funds to be used for an EIS if that becomes necessary for
any option that the Tribe chooses.]
3. Work now to develop a litigation strategy with the Department of
Justice to defend whatever action we take. Mr. Van Heuvelen said he would
call his contacts in the Justice Department to ensure that DOJ is actively
involved.
Mr. Van Heuvelen requested that you reply to the Senator's letter by
Thursday and asked Jackie to check your calendar to see if you are
available to meet with the Senator this Friday. We informed them that we
believed you would be on travel status, so could not meet with the
Senator on Friday, but that we would reply to the letter as soon as we
could, given that we would need to coordinate the response with the Region.
From the tone of the meeting, I think that you can expect that the
Senator will want to meet with you personally at some point in the near
future.
Other points that Mr. Van Heuvelen made:
1. The Senator may want to resolve the standing issue legisiatively.
2. The Senator may want to amend the Interior appropriations bill to
redress the issue (although it was unclear what the form of redress would
be: Reparations to Bell Farms? Legislative determination that the hog farm
can stay?)
3. He was not sure if an agreement to maintain the two existing
facilities would satisfy the interests of the former Governor, or if
the full build out of all 13 sites would be required.
4. He expressed a great deal of surprise that Cora Jones had returned as
the Regional Director. He had apparently been informed that she had been
permanently reassigned elsewhere.
5. He requested that we confirm for him who made the decision to approve
the lease to begin with and whether that decision was made before or after
concerns about the project had been raised by the environmental groups. I
could not remember the exact timeline, so declined to specuiate.
I will draft a response to the Senator's letter when it arrives, and
perhaps we can discuss it early next week.
Jerry Gidner Chief, Division of Environmental and Cultural Resources
Management Phone: 202-208-5696 Fax: 202-208-1 605 Email: Jeroldgidner~bia.gov
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