Native American Natural Lands and Resources: How They are Exploited and What Can Be Done

Located in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, the Cherokee Indian Reservation welcomes guests and visitors, continuously searching for ways to educate the public on Cherokee culture and their deep North Carolina history. I grew up taking school field trips to the Cherokee reservation, and was always enamored with the culture and atmosphere of the community. 

However, what I never knew, and what many people living in North Carolina may not know, is that the Cherokee community has historically faced a variety of environmental and health problems, largely due to commercial mining in the area. Mining directly impacts the water and air quality surrounding the Cherokee community, when sulfides from the mining operations enter the groundwater through runoff and acid rain. 

This problem is not unique to the Cherokee Nation, and many Native American tribes across the United States are heavily impacted by environmental activity independent of their own communities and reservations. These outside environmental activities include mining, fracking, and drilling, all of which can negatively impact the surrounding environment and the health of Native communities. 

What is the problem? 

Native Americans have historically been economically and politically mistreated by the American government. However, over the past few decades, it has become clear that Native lands and natural resources are also abused by outside entities. This involves the extraction of natural resources such as coal, oil, and timber from lands that legally belong to Native Americans, or from lands that retroactively impact the environmental health of these Native communities. Additionally, this can involve hunting and fishing rights, as well as agricultural cultivation on Native lands.

Similar to the Cherokee Nation, this exploitation often results in environmental and health problems for the nations themselves, and can deplete resources that are necessary for the self sufficiency of these tribes. 

Examples that you might know: The Pipelines

One of the most famous examples of this kind of exploitation is the Dakota Access Pipeline, a proposed oil pipeline intended to run from North Dakota to Illinois. However, the issue arose when the pipeline crossed the Missouri River north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. In their court filing, the tribe stated that “there is a high risk that culturally and historically significant sites will be destroyed in the absence of an injunction.” There were many important grave and prayer sites that had the potential to be damaged with the construction of the pipeline. 

Additionally, there were concerns that a leak from the pipeline in this area could contaminate the drinking water from the Missouri River reservoirs where the Standing Rock Sioux community obtained their drinking water. These fears later came to fruition, with five leaks from the pipeline within its first six months of operation, contaminating soil and water basins. 

A more recent example of disregard for Native Nations is the Keystone Pipeline. Similar to the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Keystone Pipeline was proposed to transport oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas. Again, this pipeline was intended to cross through the Rosebud Sioux Community in South Dakota. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and their legal staff have maintained that the government has not properly analyzed the environmental and health impacts that the construction of this pipeline will have on the Sioux community, and further state that the government has failed to meet the required standards for a pipeline to cross through the sovereign Sioux territory. 

There are continued concerns, given the threat of oil spills, for the soil and water quality on the Sioux reservation. The threat of COVID-19 has presented a new conflict in which the workers on the pipeline could endanger the local community with the spread of the virus. This could be detrimental to Native communities, given that many have underlying and pre-existing health conditions. 

Often, projects like the pipelines come at the cost of communities that are marginalized in American society. The result of attempts to steer the pipelines clear of major cities and other American communities has resulted in Native Americans taking on much of the health and environmental risks posed by the pipelines. Further, the danger of damage to sacred sites and lands is an issue unique to Native communities, and is a serious concern regarding the extraction and use of natural resources on Native lands. 

Background: United States Government and Native American Relations

As mentioned previously, the United States government and the Native American nations have not historically gotten along. From the Trail of Tears to the Battle of Wounded Knee, Native Americans have often been mistreated, stereotyped, and misunderstood. One pattern that has remained constant is the United States’s lack of recognition of Native American sovereignty. 

Sovereignty refers to the ability of a nation to self-govern, and for the government body to be autonomous of outside influence. Tribal sovereignty has long been a complicated concept and has continuously changed as the United States itself evolves. 

In the original U.S. Constitution, tribal nations are recognized as “international sovereign states.” However, this political relationship has been strained in the past, with the U.S. government often failing to recognize the sovereignty of tribal governments, disregarding treaties between America and the tribal states, and attempting to regulate tribal actions. Although the U.S. government has continuously maintained that tribal governments are sovereign entities, the government has also abused treaty rights, disregarded treaties altogether, and sustained a lax stance on the needs and rights of the Native American governments and communities. 

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the American government and tribal governments signed a series of treaties that, “ceded vast amounts of their traditional land base in exchange for recognition of their sovereign status… and commitments to ensure protection of their health and culture.” These treaties gave individual tribes the rights to their own land decision making authority when it came to minerals and resources on this land. However, as mineral resources, “were identified on these lands, ethical and legal responsibilities set in the treaties were [repealed] by the US government to provide” commercial and federal access for mining and natural resource extraction. 

Although new legislation, passed in 1919, required 5 percent of the profits from the extracted resources to be deposited into the treasury for the Native Americans, little of this money ever saw the hands of Native people themselves, and much of this sum was mismanaged. The changes in these treaties were representative of a greater disregard for the ethical and legal guarantees promised by the United States government to the tribes and a cycle of resource abuse on reservations. 

The disregard and neglect of these treaties contributed to the issues that we see on Native American reservations today, specifically the environmental and communal health of the communities related to natural resource extraction. 

Case Studies: Destruction of Native Sacred Lands and Resource Abuse

There are three examples, spanning across decades, that illustrate the issues at hand: the destruction of Native sacred lands and monuments and resource abuse. Starting in the late 1800s, the Black Hills of South Dakota were mined for gold, resulting in harm to the natural environment and Native lands. The 1900s led to mining in the Western United States near Navajo land, which resulted in the release of arsenic into the surrounding environment. The threat to Native environments in the West has continued with proposed fracking projects proximal to the Navajo and Pueblo nations. Further details regarding each of these case studies tells a story of the sustained environmental hardships that Native Americans face at the hands of natural resource extraction. 

Black Hills Mining

One of the primary examples of the abuse of Native lands for private gain is the Black Hills mining. The Black Hills are the traditional homeland for the Sioux Tribal Nation, and are considered sacred for all Sioux tribes. In 1868, the Fort Laramie Treaty was signed between the US government and the Sioux Nation, guaranteeing the Sioux Nation, “undisturbed use and occupation” of the Black Hills, and “stated that no treaty for the cession of apny part of the reservation would be valid” unless it was signed by at least 75 percent of the adult male population. 

Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the 1870s, and in an act signed in 1877, almost all of the original treaty rights were abandoned by the US federal government and the Sioux tribes. Although this treaty was only signed by about 10 percent of the adult male population, far less than previously required, the 1877 Act was regarded as law, and the Sioux population lost control over their sacred lands and natural resources. 

The Black Hills mining project resulted in the abandonment of over “10,000 gold mines on or near the Native American Reservation lands.” The Homestake mine in particular discharged “high concentrations of arsenic from their mill directly into the Cheyenne River for decades,” resulting in sustained levels of arsenic on the sediment and water on the banks and floodplains surrounding the Sioux Reservation lands. 

For the Cheyenne River Sioux, a subset of the Native Sioux population, the contaminated water and sediment came at a detriment to their own health. Arsenic was found in floodplains where “gathering for fruit for sustenance and herbs for medicinal, traditional, and ceremonial practices has been documented.” It is hypothesized that the Cheyenne River Sioux have experienced direct exposure to arsenic from the Homestake Gold Mine through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact through their traditional practices. High exposures to arsenic can result in higher risk for skin and lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and skin lesions.  

The Black Hills gold mining study is one example of ways that the U.S. and commercial land and resource developers have taken advantage of the Native American lands and treaties for their own gain, with little regard for the well-being of these tribes. Although the Sioux tribe has not recognized the legality of the 1877 Act, there has been little compensation for the Sioux people. 

The Navajo Nation, Uranium Mining, and Fracking

A second example of natural resource exploitation on Native American lands comes from the Navajo Nations in Arizona and New Mexico. Similar to the sustained impact of the Black Hills gold mining on the Sioux tribes today, uranium mining in the southwest increased in the 1900s as a result of the Cold War era but continues to provide a threat to the Navajo tribes today. 

Uranium, as a mineral, is very important to the creation of nuclear weapons, and the “Manhattan Project’s need for uranium” stimulated the use of Uranium mines in the Southwest and “led to government action to promote uranium exploitation without regard for protection of human health.” This disregard for human health included not only the Native Americans, but all those who worked in these mines. There were little to no health regulations in the mines, and it was years before standards were set. 

In the aftermath of Cold War mining for uranium, 25 percent of the deaths from the Navajo mines were “attributed to lung cancer,” and Native American miners experienced lung cancer at a higher rate than miners of other ethnicities. In the context of mining, it was found that Native miners had higher rates of disease in which smoking was not a pre-existing condition, while for most non-Native workers, smoking was a major contributor to their lung disease. 

Navajo miners have recieved little compensation due to discrimination in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This government act was intended to allow for financial compensation for the residual effects of mining. However, many members of the Navajo nation were barred from compensation due to the requirement of additional documentation of disease and lung failure. This discrimination resulted in a “legacy of psychological and environmental trauma” in Navajo communities as many of the adult men died from their mining exposure with little help or resources.

In addition to the direct impact of illness in the Navajo mining population, Navajo reservations as a whole experienced the environmental impacts of this mining. There are 520 abandoned uranium mines on or around the Navajo Reservation lands, and over 1100 toxic waste sites in their communities. Uranium waste is considered to be radioactive, and the sustained exposure to Uranium has introduced new contaminants including “radium, thorium, and radon,” all of which are considered to be toxic to the human body. This contaminant material can be found in drinking water and the material used to construct Navajo homes. It has been found that exposure to uranium has led to increased kidney disease in the Navajo communities, and that legacy waste could potentially lead to an increase of hypertension and diabetes.

Uranium mining in the Navajo region and the treatment of Native workers and communities by the U.S. government is again exemplary of the lack of respect for Native American people and culture. Again, there has been little justice or care for the residual effects of the federal use of these lands, and the Navajo communities continue to suffer.

Pueblo Sacred Lands and New Mexico Drilling

An even more recent instance of this kind of environmental exploitation on Native American lands has heavily impacted the Pueblo communities of the Western U.S. Similar to the Navajo, Pueblo lands are located across Arizona and New Mexico. The imminent threat of using Pueblo and surrounding lands for fracking and other methods of resource extraction put Pueblo native sites, and the community’s health, at risk.

The Mancos-Gallup Amendment, introduced in 2020, proposes to lease land in the Pueblo and Navajo regions for 3,000 new fracking wells for oil and gas. Not only would this proposed amendment allow for drilling in New Mexico’s “last available public lands,” but it would have detrimental effects for the Native Pueblo sacred sites in New Mexico and Arizona. 

The Chaco Canyon is home to a national park and a network of “historic archaeological sites that hold Unesco world heritage status and are of spiritual importance to the Navajo and Puebloan people.” The Pueblo people still use these sites for religious and spiritual purposes today, and the destruction of these sites would prove to be devastating for the Pueblo culture and belief system. Although Chaco Park and the canyon are protected under a congressional funding bill, there are around 250 outside sites threatened by the Mancos-Gallup Amendment.

The process of fracking involves flushing sand, water, and chemicals horizontally underground, with the intention of breaking through rock formations to release trapped natural gases and oils, which can then be used for energy and fuel. However, this process is very harmful to traditional vertical wells, and can harm the already formed rock and earth formations around it. On lands that hold sacred spaces and other valuable archeological sites, fracking can potentially harm these areas by destroying the surrounding land. 

Independent of the risk to Pueblo sacred sites is the environmental and health effects that may come from fracking in these areas. Fracking has historically been environmentally harmful, and these potential effects are at the forefront of concern for the Pueblo community. 

There have already been incidents connected to fracking and drilling that have negatively impacted the local populations and environment in New Mexico. In 2016, there was an oil tank explosion in New Mexico that resulted in over 50 residents being evacuated from their homes. The threat of these kinds of explosions on or near Pueblo lands can potentially be very harmful to a population that is already struggling economically. 

Drilling explosions and fracking can release methane into the air, resulting in air pollution around and near the drilling sites. Methane can be released into the air through “burning off the excess from natural gas wells…[and] leaks from abandoned wells that sit on Pueblo lands.” Not only is methane the one of the most harmful greenhouse gases, but sustained exposure to methane can cause headaches, nausea, neurodevelopmental effects in children, and other health issues. 

Fracking is also linked to contaminated drinking water. Oil spills, explosions, and other complications can lead to contaminants being released into drinking water. Often, chemical additives are used in the “drilling mud, slurries, and fluids that are required for the fracking process,” which can be mixed in with groundwater over the course of the drilling process. 

The Mancos-Gallup Amendment has faced pushback from both the Navajo and Pueblo tribes. However, the passage and implementation of this amendment has the potential to impart harmful environmental and cultural impacts on the Native American lands in the American southwest. The Pueblo and Navajo nations face the destruction of their own sacred sites and harm to their health and environment through the fracking and drilling sanctioned by this amendment. 

Potential Solutions

It is evident through the case studies that Native American populations across the United States routinely face environmental and cultural threats from natural resource exploits. These exploits are often sanctioned by the United States governments, even in cases where they are not supported by the Native governments. These exploits can also be executed by private energy companies, with little regard for the nature and well-being of these Native communities. 

In light of the Sioux, Navajo, and Pueblo case studies, solutions should be based on three primary grounds: sovereignty, policy, and investment. Solutions will ideally be based in the nature of Native sovereignty, and would involve the full cooperation of Native American governments in conjunction with the United States government. The product of Native governments and the U.S. federal government working together should then result in new policies that protect and enrich Native lands and rights, preserving Native American cultures. Investment in clean energy and other areas would give the Native Americans the rights and opportunity both to contribute to energy output and their own environmental and health benefits. 

The Solutions: Native Sovereignty and Legal Protests

As stated previously, Native American communities have traditionally faced difficulties maintaining federal government recognition of their sovereign status, and often are not taken seriously by the U.S. government in treaty regulations and other government observations. 

One of the most important facets to finding a solution for the environmental exploitation of Native lands is to ensure that the sovereignty of Native governments be recognized and upheld by the U.S. federal and state governments. So, how does this work?

Native American sovereignty has technically been recognized by the United States government, but in some cases has been set aside or manipulated in the interests of the American federal government. This was seen in the Black Hills mining case, in which the government voided a treaty unfairly to gain access to the Black Hills lands for gold mining purposes, later on leading to harmful environmental and health effects on the Sioux population. 

The emphasis on Native sovereignty has already begun to increase over the past few decades, and this change can be highly attributed to social pressures. There has been significant pushback against the pipeline projects in the Northern United States, with celebrities such as Jason Mamoa, Gal Gadot, and Ben Affleck all taking a stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Shailene Woodley, the star of the films The Fault in Our Stars and the Divergent trilogy, was arrested in 2016 at a Dakota Access Pipeline protest. The involvement of well known public figures and headlining protests has helped to make way for tribal sovereignty to be recognized in the public eye. In the case of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the central argument for the Standing Rock Sioux was that “their sovereign rights [had] been violated by a federal government that allowed private companies to build a potentially dangerous pipeline through waterways that are crucial to their lives.” The Dakota Access Pipelines pushed Native sovereignty for the Sioux tribe into the national limelight, which later resulted in the Obama administration halting access on the pipeline. For Native sovereignty to continue to be granted, protesting and lobbying much continue in the face of threats to the Native American nations. 

Tribes should be able to use the law and Supreme Court case precedents to argue with and for their own sovereignty to protect their lands. One such way that this has been done is through the Winters v. United States case. Settled in 1908, the Winters case established that tribal Reservations are “[reserved] water sufficient to meet the reservation’s primary purpose.” This decision implies that clean drinking water is necessary for fulfilling a reservations purpose, and therefore should be protected under the Winters precedent. This decision has been upheld in multiple tribal legal arguments, and is an example of how tribal sovereignty can be maintained through the law. These decisions exemplify the abilities of tribes as self-determining and self-governing entities to cooperate with the federal government and establish their own rights. 

For tribes to maintain their own sovereignty gives them the ability to determine their own rights and interact with the United States government as a separate entity that recognizes the individual rights of Native American tribes. Maintaining and recognizing Native sovereignty for legal purposes is one element needed to find a solution for the environmental exploitation and degradation of Native communities. Social and legal pressures haven been instrumental to gaining this maintenance. 

The Solutions: Legislation and Federal Policy

A second piece of the puzzle is new legislation and reform from both the federal government and tribal governments that can be used to protect Native communities and their lands. Although there is some current federal legislation that aims to aid and protect indigenous environments and communities, there continues to be a lack of government policies in this area. 

One current policy that addresses the needs of indigenous communities is the EPA Policy for the Administration of Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations. This policy aims to work with “federally recognized tribes to protect human health and the environment,” and seeks to provide resources and guidance through the EPA agency for this purpose. Focusing on environmental justice, the EPA uses this policy to address Native American environmental concerns, and cooperates with Native governments as self-determining entities. 

In addition to EPA policy, there are a number of executive orders that have been signed between 1990 and 2016 that extend legal recognition to the Native American cultural and environmental needs. Executive Order 13007, signed in 1996, required accommodation and Native access to sites that are used for ceremonial and religious practices. 

Despite a slew of executive orders and a few legislative policies, there has not been enough legal and legislative protection for indigneous land and environmental rights. Although the Sacred Lands executive order allows for the use of sacred lands by Native populations, there is no regulation of the destruction of these lands if they are outside of Native land boundaries. 

Reforms to current policies and the formation of new policies are needed to better assist the Native American populations in protecting their people. A potential presidential amendment to the Sacred Lands reform would extend Native government rights and ownership to Native lands, so that they can be better managed by their own people. This would allow for oversight by the Native governments and communities themselves, and give them opportunities to protect both the lands themselves and their cultural artifacts. 

Another policy that has been proposed by some Native communities involves the limitation of private drilling and mining on public lands. In New Mexico, 90 percent of public lands are being leased for drilling. This drilling is a large contributor to the threat to Native Pueblo sacred sites in the area. If drilling on public lands was limited, the environmental threat to the land surrounding Native Reservations would be lessened.

A similar piece of legislation that would help make an impact is to require environmental regulations around corporations that deal directly with the Native Americans themselves. This might involve required assessment of the impact that environmental actions, such as drilling and mining, might have on the surrounding Native land and the community’s health. In addition, this could potentially involve sustained oversight of the surrounding environment by the EPA and would focus on making sure that tribes are able to properly regulate their resources. 

The Solutions: Investment and Clean Energy 

One final solution that would involve both the tribes themselves and the U.S. government is investment, specifically in clean energy. Investment in clean energy would be beneficial both to Indigenous communities and their environment, but to the American people at large. 

Tribal investment in renewable energy has the ability to impact both the tribe’s economy and their environment. Tribal investment in clean energy on their own land, through the process of self-determination and sovereignty, can decrease air and water pollution on reservations. We have already seen this strategy used on some reservations, including the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. The tribe has installed almost 1,000 solar panels on reservation property, even filling an entire field. It is predicated that this decision will save about $47,000 on annual energy costs for the tribe. Not only has this process saved the Winnebago Tribe money, but it has helped to reduce air pollution in the area as well, every if only marginally. 

Another tribe that has begun to invest in clean energy is the Standing Rock Sioux. Already mentioned before in relation to the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux have taken more steps against the use of fossil fuels by building solar farms. Not only will the solar farm “save the tribe between $7,000 and $10,000” annually in energy costs, but it can help to set a precedent in the region of using clean energy and potentially reduce the amount of fossil fuels used.

Like the Wineebago and Standing Rock Sioux, other tribes have the opportunity to invest in renewable energy. The American Southwest, in particular, has an abundance of resources that can be used for solar energy. The Jemez Pueblo Tribe has planned and negotiated a contract “to sell and the electricity from a four megawatt solar power plant” that will be situated on tribal lands. This project is expected to bring in $25 million over the next 25 years, and revenue is said to go towards infrastructure and community services in the Pueblo Tribe. The Jemez Pueblo is another example of a tribe that has taken advantage of its allocated lands for the use of renewable energy, that will come at an environmental and economic benefit.

Outside of tribal investment, encouragement for more private United States companies and state governments to invest in clean energy would be helpful for Native people and for the general American public. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has estimated that there are “more than 19 million acres of public lands with excellent solar energy potential” in California, Mexico, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. If these public lands were to be used for solar energy rather than drilling and mining, Native Pueblo and Navajo sacred sites would be protected from fracking, and pollution from methane leaks would be combated. If state governments and corporations steadily made a move towards more renewable energy, it would be beneficial to both the environmental health of the United States in general, in the battle against global warming, but would also result in less exploitation of Native land and resources. 

Added up, What Does All of this Mean?

In hindsight, it is difficult to pinpoint one cause of this systemic issue: the exploitation of Native American governments and lands. Yet, there is a clear problem that requires a speedy solution. As the use of Native resources and surrounding land continues, pollution increases, posing health risks to Indigenous communities. As shown through the Black Hills mining and pipeline case studies, this issue cannot be ignored. 

The proposed solutions of changing and proposing legislation, maintaining tribal sovereignty and self-governance, and renewable energy investment are dependent on each other. Tribes need self-sovereignty in order to make the most of their own lands, held in trust by the American federal government, if they are to successfully invest in and implement clean energy. Self-sovereignty is needed in order to honor the treaties between the federal government and tribal governments. Self-sovereignty is needed in order for tribes to be held as legal entities by the law, and for the law to be constructed around them as legislation and policy. The solution to this issue is not simple, and requires multiple elements if it is to succeed. 

Most of all, to prevent future exploitation of Native resources and threats to Native environments and health, we need to be devoted to the cause. Lobbying and protesting are great ways that the public can be involved in change. We need to hold the federal government accountable for its past treatment of Indigenous governments, and make sure that it continues to recognize Native rights and sovereignty. Voting is a great way to elect representatives that will be supportive of Native American rights and treaties, and the donating to campaigns and fundraisers can be helpful as well. Issues that impact Native American communities are often pushed to the side in American politics, particularly in the current time of polarization and political turmoil. It is important that we keep these issues present in the public so that we can find solutions together. 

Interested learning more? Here are some helpful resources: 

• Look into the Indian Law Resource Center – a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to Native Americans, focusing on Indigenous rights, environment, and culture. The Indian Law Resource Center is currently working on a number of projects, including limiting violence against Native women, implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and various law reforms. 
• The Environmental Law Institute has informative resources on environmental issues emerging in Native communities.
• The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) provides information on Native American land rights, and details legal cases pertaining to Native American issues.
• If you are interested in learning more about the history behind Indigenous and federal government relations, consider checking out The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, by Thomas King.
• The National Congress of American Indians details multiple initiatives aimed towards helping Native communities in North America, including preserving land and resource rights, as well as other justice issues.