NCJ Number
101994
Date Published
1983
Length
30 pages
Annotation
The conflict between the Northern Cheyenne Indians and the Montana Power Company over the proposed expansion of its Colstrip, Mont., facility demonstrates that mandated negotiations cannot succeed unless they either offer disputants gains or allow them to avoid losses.
Abstract
The Indians were uneasy about the environmental impacts of the expansion, and they wanted a share of the economic benefits likely to be created. Under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, the tribe had the right to request mandated negotiations as a step toward litigation. The conditions of the mandated negotiations discouraged bargaining. The Environmental Protection Agency's agenda focused on visibility impairment and emission levels rather than on social and economic impacts. The limited agenda polarized the disputants' conflicts over technical issues, and negotiations ended in a stalemate. Subsequent voluntary negotiations under the Montana State Siting Act, which permits compensation for the socioeconomic impacts of development, provided a more suitable forum for dispute resolution. In return for dropping legal challenges against the Colstrip project, Montana Power offered the Northern Cheyenne a job program, a scholarship program to train Indians as power plant operators, a bus service from the reservation to the construction site, and other financial and service benefits. The dispute resolution was facilitated by open-ended discussions that addressed a broad range of issues associated with the project's local impact. 67 footnotes and appended agreement.