Keweenaw Bay Indian Community secures federal permit to manufacture tobacco

Tuesday, December 12, 2017  

The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is joining the tobacco manufacturing business.

The tribe secured a permit from the Tax and Trade Bureau, a federal agency, late last month, The Houghton Daily Mining Gazette reported. A manufacturing facility and store will be located at the tribe's industrial park in Baraga.

“We saw it as an economic development opportunity for the tribe,” Vice President Jennifer Misegan told the paper.

The tribe will be working with Allegany Capital Enterprises, a subsidiary of Seneca Manufacturing on the business. Seneca Manufacturing is a tobacco firm owned by citizens of the Seneca Nation and is based on the Seneca Nation in New York.

Manufacturing is expected to start in several weeks, according to the December 2017 issue of Wiikwedong Dazhi-Ojibwe, the tribe's newsletter.

The tribe is suing the state of Michigan over the imposition of state taxes on tobacco products sold on the reservation. Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community v. Khouri.

Read More on the Story:
KBIC gets fed approval to make cigarettes (The Houghton Daily Mining Gazette December 7, 2017)