In the 21st century, as in the 20th or the 19th, Native Americans continue to fight against colonialist plunder, which affects the remains of their ancestors, their religious and artistic objects, or their natural resources.
The Osage Nation lacked the popular bad reputation that traditional Hollywood attributed to Apaches, Sioux, Cherokees, Cheyennes or Seminoles, cruelly described in Drums Far Away, whom the heroic Gary Cooper who is in heaven fought.
In reality, except for students of what were previously called “the Indians” and their neighbors, the Osage were unknown. Sensitivities have changed and today, thanks to the same industry that stigmatized indigenous people in general, vindicates them as the victims of white greed.
Martin Scorsese’s film The Moon Killers, nominated for ten Oscars, including best actress for Lily Gladstone, originally from this nation, reveals to the general public how members of the Osage community in Oklahoma, in a very rich terrain for the oil exchanges, faced a criminal conspiracy at the beginning of the last century to steal the wealth of the black gold that they possessed upon receiving the exploitation rights in 1907. The oil boom made them one of the richest groups in the world, which He put them in the target of the unscrupulous ambitious.
One hundred years after suffering multiple murders, the Osage say their property rights have once again been ignored. But, on this occasion, at the center is not oil, so reviled as an accelerator of climate change, but precisely a clean, ecological and modern energy source such as wind power.
After thirteen years of legal litigation, which means that their complaint long predates their recent fame, a federal judge has ruled in their favor in their dispute with a subsidiary of Italian Enel, one of the most powerful companies in the sector. The Osage, unlike Don Quixote, have defeated the giants, the windmills.
The magistrate’s resolution recognizes that this company invaded the property when they built a wind farm on tribal land, northwest of Tulsa (Oklahoma). The magistrate maintains that the project violated the historically valuable mineral heritage held in trust for the Osage Nation. Unless the appeal overrules this judge, his ruling means that Enel must remove the 84 turbines installed in the territory of this indigenous nation. The total cost of removing them could be up to $259 million.
The complainants raised an issue. They are coming to attack a small tribe and you don’t want to recognize our reservation? And his response was clear, emphasizing that this could not be allowed.
The company countered that they never intended to extract minerals owned by the Osage Nation or intrude on their sovereignty and that they acted at all times in the genuine belief that their actions were consistent with legal requirements. According to this version, the project benefits the community with the benefits it receives and allows it to pass them on to schools, rental or ownership of land, and electricity for 50,000 homes.
The crux lies in the excavation and crushing of fill rock for the construction of the base of the turbines and whether these drillings require a different authorization. For the judge, the company’s refusal to adopt this requirement constitutes interference with Osage sovereignty.
Although they have sold areas of territory for a long time, the Government keeps the minerals in custody for this nation. The disagreement is specific to the Osage because they obtained to maintain the rights to their minerals. The turbine project started in 2015.
The large oil producers stopped extracting years ago and handed over the wells to small operators. The Osage mostly maintain control of the wealth that remains underground and want the same with what happens on the surface of their territory, for which they have shed so much blood.
