Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Kevin J. Martin, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma, as Director of the Indian Affairs Office of Budget Management (OBM). The Director, who reports to the Chief Financial Officer for Indian Affairs, is responsible for all aspects of the Indian Affairs budget process including planning, formulation, presentation, justification and execution. His appointment became effective September 26, 2010.

Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus said today that the energy crisis presents Indian tribes with opportunities to break the cycle of dependence which has plagued their people for more than a century.

"For too long, too many Indian people have been -- through no fault of their own -- too dependent upon the Federal government," Andrus said in a speech before the National Congress of American Indians in Albuquerque, N.M. "The energy crisis offers an opportunity for many tribes to break that cycle of dependence which has plagued your people."

The Department of the Interior today announced that in response to a request from the Hopi Indian Tribal Council, it is directing the removal of about 35 Navajo Indians who are illegally residing within the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona.

Assistant Secretary of Interior Harry R. Anderson instructed the Superintendent of the Hopi Agency, Clyde Pensoneau at Keams Canyon, Arizona, to serve the eviction notices on those Indians who did not comply with previous eviction notices of the Hopi Council.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk on June 24, 2010, issued a final approval to the May 11, 2010, proposed Class III Gaming Compact (Compact) between the Seminole Tribe of Florida (Tribe) and the State of Florida (State). The signing of the approval letter was conducted on his behalf by Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Del Laverdure.

The formula for distributing Johnson-Q' Malley Act funding to schools serving Indian students will be determined by a run-off election to be conducted this fall, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick Lavis announced today.

The 1978 Education Amendments Act (P.L. 95-561) requires that the distribution formula be chosen by a majority vote of the tribes and Alaska village groups.

The award of a $2,930,848 contract for the construction of an elementary boarding school at Dilkon, Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The new school complex will make possible the closing of three small trailer schools. Construction plans call for 26 classrooms; a multipurpose building; kitchen-dining building; bus garage; two 128-pupil dormitories; 10 one-bedroom staff apartments; 20 two-bedroom houses and 30 three-bedroom houses and an instructional materials center and administration offices.

Albuquerque, NM – Today Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of the Interior Rhea Suh delivered welcoming remarks at the Federal Employment Workshop: Accessing Employment with the Department of the Interior at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Federal Employment Workshop is part of Secretary Ken Salazar’s Youth in the Great Outdoors Initiative aimed at employing, educating, and engaging youth in America’s great outdoors.

An analysis of how States and Indian tribes can develop coal mine reclamation plans to comply with provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 is available from the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining (OSM).

"This guide is intended to assist coal-producing States and Indian tribes in preparing their coal mine reclamation programs so that they can qualify to receive funds for reclaiming their abandoned mine land," said Walter N. Heine, OSM Director.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has signed a $12,000 contract with Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity, a non-profit organization with headquarters in Norman, Okla., to finance the recruiting of Indians for Peace Corps work in South America.

In announcing the contract today, Robert L. Bennett. Indian Affairs Commissioner, said: "We are. pleased to cooperate in a joint venture by the Peace Corps and the Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity that will open the doors to many American Indians for Peace Corps service."

WASHINGTON, DC. – As a follow-up to the Tribal Conference held at the Department of the Interior this past November, today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met with prominent American Indian educators to discuss the educational challenges and opportunities facing tribal communities and share strategies that have helped to advance opportunities for American Indian students around the Nation.