Oneida tribe split on gasification plant

Listen to this article

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – An Oneida tribal company that has faced heated opposition to building a waste-to-energy gasification plant off the reservation has turned its attention to constructing it on tribal land and is getting resistance from its own members.

Plans by the Oneida Seven Generations Corp. to build the plant in the Green Bay area have been met with public protests, adverse court rulings and government obstacles.

Ashwaubenon and Green Bay have rejected the company’s plans for the plant, which would process household trash at high temperatures in order to save landfill space. Opponents say the incinerator concept could cause environmental damage.

Oneida Seven Generations sued the city of Green Bay after it denied a conditional use permit for the development, but a judge ruled in favor of the city.

The company then turned to the Oneida Land Commission for approval to build on tribal land in Outagamie County. The commission approved the development, but opponents circulated a petition to put the matter before tribal members.

Leah Dodge, a tribal member who helped collect signatures, said it was a “petition of the people” and that she was confident a majority of voters would block the gasification plant.

In response to the petition signed by more than 80 people, tribal officials have scheduled a tribal council meeting May 5 to allow a public vote among Oneida members on whether to halt the gasification project.

Tribe spokesman Phil Wiesneski said that unless a separate petition is submitted to discuss shutting down Oneida Seven Generations, members will be limited to voting on the waste-to-energy plant.

“They can’t go beyond that and say, ‘Well, let’s dissolve the corporation,'” Wiesneski said.

Dodge said she would consider pushing to dissolve the corporation if tribal leaders do not raise the issue, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

___

Information from: Green Bay Press-Gazette, http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com