The council voted unanimously at its April 5 meeting to accept two $125,000 donations from Consolidated Edison Development, which owns a wind farm in nearby Campbell County, North Dakota, and Fagen Inc., a contractor on the project.
At its March 9 meeting, the council accepted $125,000 from ConEdison for "Oyate/community development," according to the minutes posted online on the tribe’s website.
The donations came as the tribe girded to beat back the oil pipeline, which runs a half-mile from its reservation. On March 22, the council agreed to retain the environmental law firm Earthjustice "for the tribe’s co-counsel to oppose the Dakota Access pipeline."
ConEdison did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the donations, first reported Wednesday by the Washington Free Beacon, while a Fagen spokeswoman said the chairman was out of town and could not be reached until next week.
Con't.