The White Clay People (Gros Ventre)
and the Generous Ones (Assiniboine)

“The water pollution is just not getting cleaned up and we have to bring this lawsuit
to protect our people and water . . . The area is still so contaminated that even the water treatment plants are discharging polluted water.”  (Former Council Chairman Ben Speakthunder)

Swift Creek

The goal of our work for the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes is to compel the effective reclamation and clean up of the now closed Zortman and Landusky gold mines located adjacent to the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. For more than ten years the Center has provided legal representation to the Tribes in their largely successful fight to stop the pollution caused by two gold mines just outside the reservation. The mines have contaminated surface and groundwater resources upon which tribal members depend, destroyed countless sacred sites, degraded and eliminated wildlife habitat, and generally cast a long shadow over the unique way of life that the Tribes maintain. Although the mines are no longer in operation, tribal water resources continue to be threatened by the phenomenon of acid rock drainage. Without proper reclamation, mines like Zortman and Landusky will contaminate water resources forever.

In recent years, much of our effort for the Tribes has focused on litigation. Recently, however, we have begun focusing on the development of technical working groups, made up of tribal, state and federal agencies, as well as other local conservation groups, to cooperatively address ongoing reclamation issues without further litigation. These efforts are beginning to result in actual progress on the ground that would not have occurred, or would have taken significantly longer, without the implementation of the technical working group process. Nonetheless, we are aware that we cannot become complacent with our progress up to now and are continuously working to increase our leverage on behalf of the Tribes.

See the Resources section for related articles and documents