Past News Items

Interior Secretary James Watt today announced a major overhaul of the Interior Department's decades-old system for collecting mineral royalties, to assure recovery of an estimated $200 to $500 million a year in oil and gas royalties believed unreported on Federal and Indian leases.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding whereby he proposes to decline to acknowledge that the Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians of Dudley, Mass., (petition #68B) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding whereby he proposes to decline to acknowledge that the Nipmuc Nation headquartered in Sutton, Mass., (petition #69A) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Final Determination whereby he declined to acknowledge that the Duwamish Tribal Organization of Burien, Wash., (petition #25) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will help to distribute more than 500 teddy bears collected by school children in Oklahoma for children in Washington, D.C., personally affected by the September 11 attacks.

Assistant Secretary McCaleb served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation at the time the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the appointment of Wayne R. Smith, 52, as the Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Mr. Smith is of American Indian heritage, Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux – his mother was born and lived on the Tribe’s reservation in Fort Thompson, S.D., until her graduation from high school. “I welcome Wayne to my team,” McCaleb said. “His extensive Indian gaming, administrative, legal and policy experience will be invaluable as we work to shape Indian Affairs in the 21st century.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Wayne R. Smith will be a guest speaker this Thursday, October 25, on Native America Calling, the national public affairs and news radio call-in program of the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. He will address the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ role in the Federal Acknowledgment Process. The program will air live starting at 1:00 p.m. (ET).

(Washington) - Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will be the keynote speaker at the U.S. Department of the Interior's opening ceremony of American Indian Heritage Month on November 5, 2001. The celebration will officially begin a month of acknowledgment for the contributions made by American Indians to our country. With recent events in our nation, this year's theme is entitled, "Uniting All Nations Together As One." in honor of American Indians and this nation's commitment to freedom for all people.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – In remarks at the 2001 National Tribal Roads Conference held last week in Albuquerque, N.M, Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb reaffirmed the authority of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, otherwise known as the TEA-21 Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, to develop proposed regulations and a new funding formula for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Reservation Roads Program, while acceding to the committee’s request for more time to complete its work.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the Interior Department’s decision to withdraw in its entirety the final rule titled “Acquisition of Title to Land in Trust” that was published on January 16, 2001, citing the need for clear direction and processing standards for land into trust applications. “This action is consistent with the action we took 60 days ago when we asked for comment on the proposed withdrawal of the final rule,” McCaleb said.