Red Cliff Tribe Demands For Federal Government To Resume Talks Over Munitions Barrels

The Red Cliff Tribe is demanding that the federal government resume talks to remove Department of Defense barrels dumped into Lake Superior during the Cold War.

Red Cliff officials say talks are at a standstill after nine years and $3.4 million spent on site surveys and removal of 25 barrels. There are more than 1,400 drums still in Lake Superior near Duluth.

Red Cliff Environmental Director Melonee Montano says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won’t move ahead with a study to remove any more barrels, even though 15,000 small but still active explosives were found in 22 of the barrels. They’re sending notice to the Corps that they need to resume the process.

“It’s putting it on paper formerly requesting it that you have to show up and you need to speak to us,” said Montano.

Montano isn’t sure why the Corps or Department of Defense stopped the project. “To me, I think there’s some sort of internal disagreement and it’s something they’re trying to settle on, I guess, and figure out before they talk to the tribes on it,” said Montano. “But that’s our problem because we weren’t part of that discussion since day one.”

She says similar military dumps on other tribal lands are getting cleaned up. Lake Superior is in the ceded territory of the Ojibwe tribes, and Montano says that makes it their responsibility to make the federal government remove the barrels.

Red Cliff Tribal Vice-Chairman Nathan Gordon says he understands this will take time, but that it must proceed.

“To me, it’s a high priority,” said Gordon. “As a tribal official, if we can get them out, we’ll get them out.”

More than 1,400 barrels were dumped between 1958 and 1962 from the Honeywell Munitions facility in the Twin Cities. The Department of Defense ordered the Army Corp of Engineers to dump the 55-gallon drums.