Today marks one month since the Oneida General Tribal Council met and voted to support the following petition:
General Tribal Council directs the Oneida Business Committee to stop Oneida Seven Generations Corporation (OSGC) from building any ‘gasification’ or ‘waste-to-energy’ or ‘plastics recycling’ plant at N7239 Water Circle Place, Oneida, WI or any other location on the Oneida Reservation.
As was made clear at the GTC Meeting, what OSGC was proposing (Plastics-to-Oil-to-Combustion, aka incineration) is not ‘recycling’ even though that’s what they called it.
Oneida Eye supports real recycling efforts, but even that industrial activity would be inappropriate at the wetlands location known as Water Circle Place where OSGC sought and was granted by the Oneida Land Commission an order of rezoning from ‘commercial’ to ‘industrial’ and a Conditional Use Permit to construct a plastics incinerator.
The Land Commission granted OSGC’s request on Feb. 13, 2013 – one month prior to OSGC admitting in its March 18, 2013 memo included in the GTC Meeting information packet that the project was on hold because OSGC had still not done its due diligence on the site’s suitability for such an endeavor.
That obviously raises the question of how the Land Commission – of which OSGC CEO Kevin Cornelius’ mother, Amelia Cornelius, is Chairperson – could possibly have performed its own due diligence.
Amelia is also Vice-Chairperson of the Oneida Gaming Commission, where OSGC President & CEO Atty. William Cornelius is employed as Counsel.
A PDF of the Anti-Incinerator letter in the GTC Information Packet and of the Keynote presentation given by Petitioner Leah Sue Dodge are below:
Though there was a last minute motion to table the petition (and several appeared to question the decision by Parliamentarian/Chief Counsel Jo Anne House to advise allowing it), it seemed to be a close vote largely because for many people the instructions were unclear, and some voted to table because they want to dissolve OSGC. Chief Counsel Jo Anne House’s analysis said it would be the right of GTC to direct dissolution once a petition for that purpose is presented to GTC.
The motion to table failed and the show-of-hands vote to support the petition to prohibit OSGC from building any kind of incinerator anywhere on the Oneida Reservation proved that OSGC’s proposals were “overwhelmingly rejected” by GTC.
Kalihwisaks, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin’s newspaper, quoted Dodge as saying:
I’m proud of GTC for defending itself against OBC and OSGC which is a first step in showing the world that GTC isn’t buying what OSGC is selling, and the next steps are to divest the Tribe of the incineration business and dissolve some corporations, while setting and enforcing higher standards for corporate behavior. …Some officials seem to think they simply need to better explain OSGC’s projects because GTC just doesn’t understand how wonderful their incineration plans are, but I’ll continue to work with other GTC members to make it clear: We understand perfectly well what they’re up to, and we plan to stop them.
For more media coverage of the events leading up to the May 5, 2013 GTC Meeting visit the Media section via the tab above.
For more details regarding the information in the Letter and Keynote presentation visit the websites in the Links tab and read the information in the Resources tab above.
Oneida Eye will provide coverage and commentary as events unfold, including the pending ratification of GTC’s May 5 decision at a July meeting, OSGC’s attempts to appeal Green Bay’s rejection of their incinerator project, and the consideration of a larger vision within which to discuss the future of OSGC and related enterprises.
Several members of the Oneida Business Committee and the General Tribal Council have complained about the level of information available to enrolled members of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin with regard to making informed decisions.
For example, oneida-nsn.gov provides none of the GTC Meeting minutes from 2012.
Who is responsible for providing the Oneida Tribe with information? Are these omissions at the behest of OBC or against its wishes?
Oneida Eye will continue to make information and documentation available to the General Tribal Council and the general public.
For example, the Tribe’s website hosts an outdated version of OSGC’s Corporate Charter.
Here is an updated version, including the Corporate Report Model that OSGC fails to abide by:
OSGC Corporate Charter as of February 8, 2012
To contact Tribal Secretary Patty Hoeft and ask why the Tribe’s website is lacking so much information relevant to the General Tribal Council call (920) 869-4475 or email her at phoeft@oneidanation.org.
Here is the May 28, 2013 Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellants in Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District III Appeal 2013AP591, Oneida Seven Generations Corporation & Green Bay Renewable Energy, LLC, vs. City of Green Bay.
OSGC is appealing Brown County Judge Marc A. Hammer’s January 9, 2013 decision to uphold the City of Green Bay’s right to rescind a Conditional Use Permit because OSGC made several misrepresentations of material fact to the public and elected officials.
The Oneida Business Committee authorized $750,000 from the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin’s General Fund for OSGC to pay for the services of law firm Godfrey & Kahn in both the failed civil suit and in this appeal. Reports have been that the anticipated likelihood of success was estimated at 40% or less.
Atty. Carl Artman, who is listed as an ‘Independent Tribal Vendor’ serving as ‘Attorney’ in OSGC’s 2011 & 2012 Year End reports, is a shareholder in Godfrey & Kahn according to his LinkedIn profile.
More commentary will be posted soon, but one interesting point is that, unlike OSGC which is a Tribally chartered corporation, Green Bay Renewable Energy, LLC, was registered in the State of Delaware.
