Save Our Last Sacred Chief Gathering Will Continue
Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013, to Protest Fracking on the Blackfeet Reservation
By Lori Brave Rock, organizer
Photo: A drilling platform rises on the Blackfeet Reservation with Chief Mountain and Glacier Park in the background. TONYBYNUM.COM
Browning,
Montana – The organizers of Save Our Last Sacred Chief have
decided to continue with the event, which was originally planned as a protest
against proposed hydraulic fracking near Chief Mountain. The mountain on the
border between Alberta and Montana is considered extremely sacred by the people
of the Blackfoot Confederacy.
The proposed
fracking has been canceled, but a news release put out by the Blackfeet Tribal
Council did little to assuage opinions that the council behaved unethically and
contrary to traditional Blackfeet values. One sentence in the council's news
release read, “the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council has the absolute right to develop its own resources on its own land,” (italics added to emphasize
key words). This sentiment illustrates what many Blackfeet feel is the
council's tendency to make potentially detrimental decisions about hydraulic
fracking on the reservation without weighing input from tribal members.
Save Our Last
Sacred Chief organizers also feel that their original concerns were not
addressed in the Tribal Councils press release. The proposed “fracking” was
canceled only due to a failure by Nations Energy, L.L.C. to pay the lease in
full by the proposed deadline. This sort of cancellation does not negate the
initial motivations for the gathering as it leaves open the possibility of
drilling on land that many Blackfeet citizens believe is disrespectfully close
to such a sacred site.
Save Our Last
Sacred Chief is organized by Pauline Matt of Browning and Kimberley Weasel Fat
and Lori Brave Rock of Alberta, Canada. The goal of the event is to “gather
peacefully for ceremony, prayers and blessings for our sacred Chief Mountain.”
Those who attend are urged to bring their own food, water, offerings, and other
supplies. The event will begin as scheduled, at 11:00 in the morning on
Saturday, August 17th. Everyone is Welcome.
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