The Kiowa Tribe is seeking environmental contractors to help monitor Westwin Elements, a pilot plant in Lawton that processes nickel and other minerals.

Lawrence Spottedbird is the Kiowa Tribe’s chairman. He said Westwin Element’s CEO, KaLeigh Long has agreed to allow them to proceed with their investigation.

“We would like to have somebody that we would conduct an environmental assessment on their technology and let them tell us what their summary is on this technology in regard to the air, water, land, vegetation,” Spottedbird said.

The plant is located on the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache, or KCA, reservation, which was confirmed as dissolved in 2021 by the Oklahoma Appellate Court that found “Congressional intent to disestablish the reservation.”

The rhetoric calling for environmental companies to submit proposals to the Kiowa Tribe alluded to the tribe's jurisdiction over the KCA. Spottedbird is the tribe’s chairman, and he explained his view that “the reservation is still here” in an interview with KOSU.

The three tribal nations in the area have opposed the refinery’s intent to open the plant in their communities alongside activist groups, including Westwin Resistance, Honor The Earth and Indigenous Peoples Power Project.

Westwin Elements maintains the plant prioritizes environmental stewardship and is an essential step for “solving America’s critical minerals crisis.”

To view the Kiowa Tribe’s call for proposals for environmental monitoring services, visit the Kiowa Tribe’s Facebook page.