Two-hundred and thirty-four members of the Oneida General Tribal Council signed a petition which was circulated at the Semi-Annual General Tribal Council Meeting held on Monday evening July 1, 2013.
The petition states:
General Tribal Council directs the Oneida Business Committee to dissolve Oneida Seven Generations Corporation based on the Law Office’s March 2013 finding that OSGC’s Corporate Charter identifies that the shareholder (i.e. the Tribe), as represented by the Business Committee, can dissolve the Corporation.
The petition is sponsored by Tribe member Frank Cornelius, an 82 year-old retired Marine, who is being assisted in the effort by Tribe member Leah Sue Dodge. Dodge recently launched a blog (OneidaEye.com) to provide Tribe members information regarding the reasons motivating the petition as well as to address other Tribal issues.
Foremost among the various reasons petition organizers want to dissolve OSGC are the corporation’s attempts to build gasification incinerators on the Oneida Reservation and in the City of Green Bay as well as plans to market incinerators to tribal and municipal governments throughout the United States.
In January 2013 a Brown County Judge upheld the right of the Green Bay Common Council to rescind a Conditional Use Permit due to the fact that OSGC made several misrepresentations to Green Bay leaders regarding the incinerator project. OSGC is currently appealing that decision.
In May 2013 Dodge successfully led a petition effort resulting in GTC voting to prohibit OSGC from constructing incinerators on the Oneida Reservation.
Only fifty signatures are required to bring the new petition before GTC for a vote, but signatures will be gathered through the evening of Monday July 8th when a Special GTC Meeting is scheduled. Petition organizers want to make it clear to the Oneida Business Committee how broad the support for dissolving OSGC is among Tribe members.
The petition could come before the General Tribal Council for a vote this fall depending on when the Oneida Business Committee schedules a GTC meeting to address the matter.
