Saying that it wants more Tribal Sovereignty, the Northern Arapaho tribe is leaving the Joint Tribal Business Council it had shared with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. 

Calling it a historic move The Northern Arapaho tribe has dissolved the Joint Business Council, but in a prepared statement, the Eastern Shoshone tribe says they won’t go along with the plan. The main reason is that the decision was never approved by their business council.

However, Northern Arapaho Attorney Mark Howell says the tribe has a legal right to walk away from the council.   Since it is technically a joint powers board, Howell says that when one entity walks away, the board no longer exists. He says in the future when any state or federal agency wants to deal with both tribes on an issue, they’ll need to get agreement from business councils from both tribes.    

The Northern Arapaho tribe says that the council was imposed on the two tribes by the federal government decades ago. They say they intend to continue cooperation with the Eastern Shoshone through existing committees. And they say the change will have no effect on their application for “Treatment as a State” under the Clean Air Act.