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Crow leader outlines plan for fuel plant
By BECKY SHAY
Of The Gazette Staff

The Crow nation brings money to Billings and hopes to soon bring coal-to-liquid energy to Montana, tribal Chairman Carl Venne said Thursday.

In return, the tribe needs to build bridges with its neighbors in Yellowstone County and its legislators, Venne told about 50 people during a luncheon hosted by the Billings Chamber of Commerce and the Big Sky Economic Development Authority.

"The future is good for the Crow Tribe, if we continue to work hard," Venne said. "But we also need the help of you here in Billings to reach our goals."

One of the first goals - which the Venne administration has worked on for four years - is developing its natural resources. The tribe this week started drilling oil and gas wells, he said.

The reservation sits on a large coal seam that holds an estimated 19 billion tons, Venne said. The tribe is trying to develop a coal-to-liquid fuel plant and should know next week if the project will proceed.

"I'm almost positive that it's a go," he said.

Tribes do not pay state taxes on their coal and have a tax incentive on each ton that is mined.

"This tribe could secure electric generation in Montana at a lot lower rate" than competitors, Venne said.

The project also could make the tribe, which would own a majority share of the plant, self-sufficient by bringing in up to $300 million a year and creating 3,000 jobs, he said.

The tribe doesn't have much infrastructure, including transmission lines, to develop the resources, Venne said. TransCanada Corp. is looking at investing in those lines, he said.

"I think that's going to be a lifesaver for Montana," Venne said.

To improve their stance with investors and businesses, the tribal legislature and executive branch have adopted Uniform Commercial Code and limited liability corporation laws. The tribe has waived its sovereign immunity for some large project contracts.

Tribes must begin to combine their standing as sovereign nations and American constituents of political leaders, Venne said. It also is important to boost cooperation between communities and reservations.

The Crow Tribe has about 47 percent unemployment, Venne said. While Billings and Montana currently have around 2 percent unemployment, Venne said he sees tribal members as a great resource for businesses seeking workers.

To help that happen, Venne said the tribe is developing a transportation system that by 2009 should be available for tribal members to travel between Sheridan, Wyo., and Billings.

The tribe must work to create education programs at Little Big Horn Community College and through partnerships with colleges and universities such as Montana State University Billings.

The tribe invests its share of Montana cigarette tax payments, about $1 million, and gas tax funding, about $900,000, in education for tribal members.

"In order to survive as a people - and all of you are pretty well-educated - that's where I put our money, in the education of our kids," Venne said.

Bruce MacIntyre, the chamber's director of government affairs, said the organization and the tribe have "exactly the same goals," including encouraging environmentally safe coalbed methane development in southeast Montana and keeping graduates in state.

"This is a symbiotic relationship," MacIntyre said. "It's not an 'us' and a 'they,' it's us as Montanans."

The tribe and its members spend $130 million a year in Yellowstone County and another $48 million for farm products, according to a tribal study cited by Venne.

If anyone doubts that money flows into Billings, Venne said, go to Wal-Mart today, after members receive their per-capita check from the tribe.

"We don't call it Wal-Mart, we call it Crow-Mart," Venne joked.

The payments are made four times a year to each enrolled tribal member. This quarter's payment is $310 per person. There are nearly 12,000 tribal members, about 8,000 of whom live on the reservation.

Health care is another area in which the tribe invests in Billings, he said. The Indian Health Service hospital in Crow Agency provides services to tribal members, but it is so financially strapped that that care is often life-and-death, Venne said. About $28 million in contracted care is spent at Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare each year, he said.

"It is essential that we, as a people, work together," Venne said.

Venne said he has watched carefully as more toys and other "made in China" products are identified as unsafe. There used to be pushes to buy products made in Montana and America, he said.

"When did we leave that as a people?" Venne said. "We need to get back to being Montanans again and support each other as consumers."

Uncle Sam · Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 28

Good fer them! Welcome to the 21 century!