Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding tribal energy resource agreements (TERAs) designated under Title V, Section 503, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in the August 21, 2006, issue of the Federal Register.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has given final approval to the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State to participate in DOI’s 477 Program, a comprehensive employment, education, training and welfare program for federally recognized tribes to address economic and workforce needs in their communities. According to the 2000 Census nearly 40 percent of the Native Americans who reside on the Tulalip Reservation live below the federal poverty level.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved a $140,000 grant to the Pueblo of Laguna Utility Authority to study the feasibility of having the PLUA provide affordable electricity service throughout the tribe’s lands in west-central New Mexico. The Pueblo of Laguna is located approximately 45 miles west of the city of Albuquerque.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) will be competitively awarding grants of up to $25,000 to federally recognized tribes interested in participating in DOI’s employment and training initiative known as the 477 Program. The IEED is seeking to encourage non-participating tribes to consider the using the 477 Program through grants that will help them develop plans for implementing the program in their communities.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that Allen J. Anspach, acting Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Western Regional Office in Phoenix, Ariz., has been confirmed in that position effective May 23. Anspach, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and a certified Senior Executive Service (SES) administrator, had served in an acting capacity since January 2006. The Western Regional Office serves the federally recognized tribes located in Arizona (except the Navajo Nation), Nevada and Utah.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced the selection of Thomas M. Dowd, an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and a senior Federal executive with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), as the new director of the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP).

WASHINGTON – James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary announces today that Grayford Payne, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Indian Affairs was one of fifteen individuals to receive the 2005 Secretary’s Executive Leadership Award at a ceremony held today at the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON – Today at the 63rd Departmental Honor Awards Convocation held in the Sydney R. Yates Auditorium at the U.S. Department of the Interior, it was a time for the Department to honor its own – those who have served with sudden seconds of valor and long years of excellence. At the ceremony a private citizen and three Bureau of Indian Affairs employees were among the many to be awarded for their bravery, outstanding contributions and dedicated service to the Department. Edward D.

(Washington, D.C.) – James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary announced today that the BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES), in conjunction with the Indian Country Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police will hold its 15 th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Service on May 4, 2006. The service is to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice made by American Indian law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will begin at 10:00 A.M.

ALBUQUERQUE – An estimated audience of almost 1,000 guests and dignitaries today watched as Interior Department officials formally dedicated the Bureau of Indian Affairs gleaming modern office building at 1011 Indian School Road N.W. in Albuquerque, N.M., to former Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr., and officially opened DOI’s new National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC), a major occupant of the facility. Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O.