How the U.S. Government Is Helping Corporations Plunder Native Land

How the U.S. Government Is Helping Corporations Plunder Native Land

Special Investigation

By Stephanie Woodard, Photos by Joseph Zummo

A 6-month investigation reveals that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs—tasked with negotiating the best possible deal for Native landowners—often makes it cheap and easy for outside corporations to exploit Native resources. As a result, corporations are able to drill, frack, farm and fell timber on Native lands, paying landowners little in return. Companies like Koch Industries and Walmart, however, reap huge profits.

SEPTEMBER ISSUE | September 6, 2016

They attacked my aunt like a bunch of coyotes attacking sheep in a corral,” recalls Navajo tribal member Roberta Tovar. “They were going, ‘Mary, Mary, just go ahead and sign it.’ ”

The “coyotes” included representatives of Western Refining, a Texas-based oil company. One of the company’s pipelines carries 15,000 barrels of crude a day from oil fields in the Four Corners region to a refinery near Gallup, N.M. On the way, the line crosses a 160-acre plot of Navajo reservation land owned by 88-year-old Mary Tom and dozens of her family members.

Western Refining’s right of way expired in 2010. After years of negotiations with family members, the company invited just a handful of them, including Tom, to an October 2013 meeting at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup. Once a watering hole for the elite, the inn boasts lavish cattle-baron décor: looming chandeliers, mounted animal heads and autographed photos of past visitors, such as John Wayne and President George H. W. Bush.

The purpose of the gathering: Get the signatures needed to renew the right of way for another 20 years.

More:
http://inthesetimes.com/features/native-land-plunder-bureau-of-indian-affairs.html