Supreme Court to hear Navajo coal royalty appeal

Too little to late..
Just like all other settlements the tribe agrees to in a haste, then turns around and says "poor me" the white man stiffed us..and the same thing will happen when they realize that they settled too early on the water rights settlement in San Juan County..

Fmgtn wrote:

Too little to late..
Just like all other settlements the tribe agrees to in a haste, then turns around and says "poor me" the white man stiffed us..and the same thing will happen when they realize that they settled too early on the water rights settlement in San Juan County..

This is not a case of buyers remorse. This is ANOTHER case of the federal government's breach of Trust involving Tribes & Tribal members Trust assets.

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has twice ruled in favor of the Navajo Nation in this issue & held the government liable for mismanaging the Tribe's trust assets & that Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal company, appeal pushing DOI officials to approve a lease with a less than favorable royalty rate.

Don Hodel, who was then Secretary of the Interior, met privately with a Peabody lobbyist who happened to be a close friend & without the knowledge of the Navajo Nation. Shortly after the meeting, Hodel informed the Navajo Nation that a decision on the appeal would not be coming any time soon, even though the BIA already had been written the appeal in favor of the tribe.

That decision was suppressed and kept hidden from the tribe until it came to light years later as part of the litigation.

Those facts are not even in dispute. The Dept of Justice warned that the costs of litigation involving tribes and individual Indians "The practical implications of the court of appeals' decision are significant. The tribe's damages claim in this case alone totals $600 million."

That does not even include the judgement against the US government in the Cobell case for which would be at least $455.6 million for mismanagement of those trust funds or possibly up to $47 BILLION, if held up on appeal.

Is there more mismangment? Probably. Other Tribes and individual Tribal members have law suits pending. The Dept of the Interior's Inspector General released a scathing report of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Royalty In Kind program did drugs & slept with oil industry officials. http://www.doioig.gov/

greed and corruption...on both sides apparently...what happens to the money they DO get?...where does it end up at?

ROXY wrote:

OH HERE WE GO AGAIN..........

what do you mean here we go again, if you got 70 cents a ton for coal coming off your land you be fighting too. leave the tribes alone and let them fight for what is rightfully thiers.

Yeah, seventy cents a ton, gimme a break, you ought to be more informed about the issues and quit asking such inane questions. They most likely use to fund the tribal administration and other necessary programs like headstart and college educations. You know when you get seventy cents a ton, that isn't a lot of money and have over four hundred thousand people, don't say we don't pay taxes because we do. So study the issues if you can read, and be more enlightened. I feel like I'm in the deep South and talking to a cracker.