1984-06-01 Char-Koosta News

              CHAR-KOOSTA
Newspaper of the Confederateti Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation
VOLUME 13 NUMBER 2
MONTH OF THE CAMAS
JUNE 1, 1984
More details about the petition
Petitioners take their show on the road
A group of Tribal members calling itself the Kerr Dam Relicensing Team has had a busy spring. They've been busy knocking on doors with a petition,
The name Char-Koosta is derived from Chief Charlo's and Chief Koostatah's names. They were the Tribes' last traditional chiefs.
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appearing at at least four Tribal meetings in two weeks, sending out "news releases" to various newspapers in Montana, and have been in contact with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington, D.C
The team's core appears to include spokesman E.W. "BUT' Morigeau, Stella Morigeau Jamison, William "Ernie" Gefeller, and Pat McAlpin Morigeau said the group had grown from an initial membership of "about 20 poor Indians" to 1,500, evidently meaning 1,100 petition signers and 400 off-Reservation supporters.
The team's stated purpose is to secure a new lease agreement between the Tribes and the Montana Power Company. Terms of the proposed agreement are the granting of a new 50-year lease to MPC to operate Kerr Dam in exchange for MPC paying $31 million for
the first 20 years The money is requested to be divided up evenly among the Tribal membership.
The proposed lease ignores estimates of the dam's actual value The dam today earns $2.6 a year for the Tribes MPC offered to raise that to $3 million a year last October. MPC has admitted to FERC in written testimony, however, that a fair rental is $11.92 million a year. Experts hired by the Tribes say a reasonable rent is $30 to 40 million a year.
The team's proposed deal is equivalent to $1.1 million a year, less than half the dam's current rent This fact, says the Council, would cause the Secretary of the Interior to disapprove the lease as bad business, even if the Tribes' governing body supported it
According to a May 11,1984, letter to the team from MPC president Joe (Continued on page three)
Another district meeting announced
A combined Poison- Pablo- Ronan district meeting has been scheduled for 6 pm on Wednesday, June 13, in the Council Chambers in Pablo.
On the informal agenda will be discussions about Kerr Dam, per capitas, sec-
retarial elections, economic development, and any other concerns the audience may have
Dinner will be served, and all Tribal members are encouraged to attend and speak to their district representative