A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
That’s a distinct possibility, State Senator Bob Keenan (R-Bigfork) and former Montana legislator Verdell Jackson (R-Kalispell), now a Flathead Conservation District supervisor just told a federal district court. Never mind that Turkey is a 28 January 1969 signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. According to Keenan, et al, there may be uranium within 100 miles of the CSKT reservation, Turkey is active engaged with various American Indian tribes, the Muslim Brotherhood is active in Turkey, and maybe the CSKT can’t be trusted to operate Kerr Dam (which will be renamed) in the national interest.
Therefore, Keenan, Jackson, and co-plaintiff Pointer Enterprises, Inc., a Bigfork tour boat operator, want the court to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the scheduled 5 September transfer of the dam’s ownership from Northwestern to the CSKT and the CSKT subsidiary, Energy Keepers, Inc., that will operate the dam. Time is needed, the plaintiffs allege, to investigate the national security implications of the transfer.
I’m not making this up. This argument — or delusion — is laid out in vivid detail in Keenan’s and Jackson’s brief. Here’s a sample:
89. These Turkish groups’ selection in 2010 of 17 tribes from 11 states (including the CSKT), the Turkish Trade Minister’s prior decision to visit the Hopi and Navajo Indian Reservations, and Prime Minister Erdogan’s $200,000 gift to the Warm Springs Tribe of Oregon Case 1:15-cv-01440-RCL Document 3 Filed 09/03/15 Page 34 of 54 35 are certainly not unrelated or whimsical events. The reservations of most of these tribes are located within 100 miles of a nuclear power plant, registered nuclear fuel facility or registered uranium mine or deposit and also a water source (Ex. 45). It is quite possible that the Turkish Government, sponsored business enterprises and affiliated groups and members seek access to the uranium deposits and bountiful water sources surrounding the Flathead Reservation for production of yellowcake capable of later conversion to a gaseous state for eventual use in incendiary devices. This “coincidence” should, at the very least, give this Court pause to require FERC and other federal agencies possessing concurrent jurisdiction over national security matters to undertake an in-depth review of the Kerr Project transaction before the scheduled September 5, 2015 conveyance is permitted to take place.
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95. Whether or not it can be confirmed that it is the Turkish Government’s ambition to acquire raw nuclear materials that can later be refined for military purposes from Indian reservation lands, including from the Flathead Indian Reservation, it remains plausible that members of Turkish enterprises interested in and/or currently doing business with the CSKT on the Flathead Indian Reservation could have affiliations with terrorist organizations the Turkish Government has harbored (e.g., Muslim Brotherhood) or have employees bearing such affiliations that have their own bold agendas. And, given the CSKT’s technical capabilities and apparent gullibility/naivety, the CSKT, tribal members, Plaintiffs and similarly situated persons, may be at peril.
96. Multiple CSKT Annual Reports and published quarterly newsletters (e.g., S&K Group Spirit) spanning 2009-2015 reveal the CSKT’s technical expertise in high profile DOE & USACE uranium mill tailings cleanups, and in U.S. & foreign (Middle Eastern) military hardware component manufacturing & logistics software management, both within the U.S. and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is quite possible that the Turkish Government, sponsored Turkish business enterprises and affiliated terrorist groups or members may be seeking access to such expertise for possible acquisition and use of incendiary devices to compromise Kerr Dam and/or other off-reservation targets.
I have doubts that Keenan and Jackson actually believe Turkey is conspiring with, or duping, the CSKT to obtain fissile material, let along fissile material for nefarious purposes. This too crazy for Hollywood scenario is a lawyer’s horrible of horribles designed to convince the court that a missing dot on an “i” in the dam transfer paperwork constitutes a violation of due process and adherence to procedure so serious that more study is necessary before the transfer should be allowed. It’s a delaying tactic, and part and parcel of Jackson’s campaign to sabotage the CSKT compact and keep Kerr Dam out of the CSKT’s hands.
The timing, two days before the scheduled transfer, is designed to poop on the CSKT’s long planned transfer ceremony by casting uncertainty on the event.
I give the plaintiffs’ New York lawyer, Lawrence A. Kogan, an A-minus for creativity for conjuring a potential threat to national security. It’s an over-the-top plot for a novel on Islamic terror. I’ll let my readers award a grade for the brief’s level of paranoia, if any, and shamelessness. The voters in Keenan’s legislative district will have to wait until 2018 to pass judgement on his decision to join this lawsuit.