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It is, perhaps, not well known that Indian people own about
one-third of the country's western coal and uranium resources, as
well as vast quantities of oil and natural gas. In the early 1960s,
lurid news accounts about the Black Mesa strip mine in Arizona and
the manipulation of the Navajos and Hopis shocked the American
public, Indian and non-Indian alike. The mine became a symbol of
the exploitation of Indian people and Indian resources to satisfy
the nation's energy demands. In this book, Marjane Ambler explores
the strides that both tribes and individual Indian mineral owners
have made since that time, gaining crucial control over oil, gas,
coal, and uranium development on their lands.
Breaking the Iron Bond focuses on the quiet revolution of the
1970s and 1980s. It traces the steps taken--both forward and
backward--as tribes and individual Indian mineral owners asserted
control over energy development, from monetary returns and water
rights to off-reservation development and environmental
regulations. In a final chapter, the author describes how some
tribes have taken over some wells completely or joined with
corporate partners to direct development. Ms. Ambler, who has
covered these issues for fifteen years as a journalist, offers
firsthand accounts, numerous interviews with major players, and
lively descriptions of the heroics of some Indian leaders.
Much of the writing about American Indian issues has focused on
either policies adopted by federal government or on the results of
those policies on a single reservation. By contrast, this book
shows the effects of tribal and federal energy policies on fifteen
western reservations and untangles the complicated legal and
technical issues.
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