Tom Tureen

Thomas Norton Tureen (born 1943^[1]) is an American lawyer and entrepreneur known for his work with American Indian tribes. While an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund he pioneered the use of the Nonintercourse Act to obtain return of tribal lands lost 180 years earlier and federal recognition for previously non-federally recognized tribes. Tureen successfully litigated Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton (1975), which established that the federal government has a trust responsibility to protect the land of all tribes, including those not previously recognized. Between 1972 and 1983 he helped obtain federal recognition for and the return of over 300,000 acres to five New England tribes.^[2] Tureen's work on behalf of the tiny Mashantucket Pequot Tribe in Connecticut led to the creation of the Foxwoods Resort Casino, one of the largest casinos in the world.^[2] He arranged the acquisition of Dragon Cement, New England's only cement producer, by the Passamaquoddy Tribe (whose members in 1960 were the poorest people east of the Mississippi); the acquisition of Phoenix Cement by the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (now the leading supplier of cement and concrete in Arizona); originated 250 MW Moapa Solar, the first utility scale solar project in Indian Country and had lead responsibility for the creation of a partnership controlled by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians that holds an option to acquire a $400 million interest in an electric transmission upgrade in Southern California.