Tribes, Conservation Groups File Motion to Support Rigorous Environmental Review of Little Rockies Mining
Mining company challenging State of Montana decision to require comprehensive review of mining activity
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Protecting the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
Fort Belknap Indian Community, Conservation Groups Challenge Mining Plan
Zortman Exploration Could Worsen Contamination of Tribes’ Water, Land
Media Contact
Andrew Werk, Jr., President, Fort Belknap Indian Community
406-390-2650 (mobile) | 406-353-8305 (office)
andy.werk@ftbelknap.org
Protecting the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
For more than 15 years, the Center has provided legal representation to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in their fight for environmental justice and clean-up of the contamination caused by the Zortman and Landusky gold mines adjacent to the Fort Belknap Reservation. Through lawsuits and public pressure, we helped the Tribes shut down the mines – once the largest heap-leach g
Fort Belknap, Montana
Oil and gas development threatens environment at Fort Belknap
The first natural gas ever 
produced on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation flowed to market earlier this year, and more oil and gas development is on the horizon for this north-central Montana Indian community. While natural resource development could provide a much-needed boost to the local economy, if left unchecked it threatens to undo the decade
Fort Belknap Tribes still fighting for clean water after mine closure
Harlem, Montana -- Since 1992, the Indian Law Resource Center has represented the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes in several cases aimed at shutting down the Zortman and Landusky mines - large open-pit, cyanide heap leach gold mines - and bringing the sites into compliance with environmental and water quality standards.
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Gros Ventre Tribe et al v. United States et al Reply Brief
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Gros Ventre Tribe et al v. United States et al.
Answering Brief of the Appellees, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes
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Tribes Attack BLM for Broken Trust over Mines
Great Falls Tribune article. Attorneys for the Fort Belknap Tribes in Montana argue that the Bureau of Land Management failed "and the government neglected its duties to protect the tribe's natural resources and historic sacred lands."
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Gros Ventre Tribe et al v. United States et al Appellate Brief
Appellate Brief of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes, and the Fort Belknap Indian Community.
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Schweitzer Signs Measure for Water Treatment at Fort Belknap
Billings Gazette. Governor Schweitzer signs a bill for water treatment on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana, addressing the reservation's top environmental concern after contamination from the Zortman-Landusky mines affected their water sources.
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Measure Would Undo Ban on Mining
Article published by the Associated Press concerning Fort Belknap's opposition to I-147
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Suit Over Zortman Pollution Amended
Associated Press article in the Billings Gazette. The Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes of Montana with the Montana Environmental Information Center amend a 2002 lawsuit asserting that "state officials refuse to address water pollution from old mining next door in violation of the Montana Constitution."
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Some Myths Surrounding Initiative 147 Dispelled
Op-ed article from the Bozeman Chronicle discussing the harmful effects of cyanide-leach mining, which could return if Montana Initiative 147 were to be passed, a repeal on the cyanide-leaching ban.
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Montana Tribes Oppose Return to Cyanide Mining
Indian Country Today. Montana tribes opposing new legislation that would repeal Montana's ban on cyanide mining.
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Fort Belknap Tribes File New Lawsuit Over Mining Pollution
Indian Country Today article concerning the new lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the current owner of the Zortman-Landusky mine complex filed by the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
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Cleanup of $1 Billion Gold Mine to Cost Taxpayers $33.5 Million
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. $33.5 million dollars are needed from tax-payers to clean up gold mine in Montana.
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Mine Plan Exceeds Funds
Helena Independent Record article, the plans to clean up the Zortman-Landusky mines are over the amount of funds available.
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