The Controversy about the Oil Drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine Area

The Badger-Two Medicine area (Montana, USA) represents a sacred place for the tribal members of the Blackfeet Nation and is the home of Thunder, one of the most important spirits in their mythology. For several years now there have been plans to drill for oil in this area and a governmental permit exists though at the moment there is a temporary prohibition to drill because the case is again being discussed. It is questionable whether it is legal to grant permits to drill in this area in respect of environmental matters and in regard to the rights of the Blackfeet that derive from existing treaties and the standards of international law, especially the right of self-determination. Like the other Indian communities the Blackfeet Nation today still is a dependent domestic nation which results in a particular relation to the USA that still shows remnants of elements of international law. The Blackfeet Nation disposes of an inherent sovereignty and exercises not only personal sovereignty over its members but also territorial sovereignty over the area allocated to them. Based on the treaty concluded on 17 October 1855, the Badger-Two Medicine area clearly represented such „Indian Country“ on which the Blackfeet Nation possessed recognized rights. The treaty was substantially modified in 1895 when the Blackfeet „conveyed“ all their rights to the USA. Although there is doubt according to the opinion of numerous Indians that the agreement was correctly settled, evidence is missing in this respect. Therefore it is not possible to derive territorial rights directly from the original treaty. Nonetheless the decisions in the latter agreement regarding the rights reserved for the Indians are to be interpreted in favour of the Blackfeet Indians who accordingly still are allowed to arrange acts of worship in this area. This right would be impaired by a permission to drill for oil. Furthermore the Blackfeet hold the right of self-determination of peoples just as the other Indian Nations and Tribes. They are a people in the sense of the right of self-determination and not only a minority which has been explicitly recognized by the government of the United States in recent comments. For this reason the particular status of the Blackfeet Nation is also safeguarded by international law and their cultural independence is therewith strengthened. In view of this it is considered that the permission of oil drillings in the Badger-Two Medicine area should not be granted.