Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary Kevin K. Washburn today announced that he has named Dr. Charles M. “Monty” Roessel as Director of the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). Roessel, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, had served as the acting director since February 2013.

The announcement came today as Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Assistant Secretary Washburn and Director Roessel were in Laguna, New Mexico to tour a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) tribally controlled grant school located on the Pueblo of Laguna reservation.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded an $8,640,411 contract to construct nearly 6 miles of main canal tunnel and open canal on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project about 59 miles east of Farmington, N.M., the Department of the Interior reported today. The project is being built by Reclamation for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The joint venture of Shea-Kaiser-Macco, Redding, Calif., was awarded the contract on the lowest of ten bids received under Specification No. DC-6l87.

WASHINGTON – Today, Thursday, September 24, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a press conference call to discuss more than $5 million in funding to help Native American and Alaska Native youth become college- and career ready. Under a new Native Youth Community Projects (NYCP) program, the Department of Education is making grants to a dozen recipients in nine states that will impact more than 30 tribes and involve more than 48 schools, some of which are schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that John H. Artichoker, Jr., Superintendent of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Agency, Lame Deer, Mont., has been named Superintendent of the Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz.

John R. "Bob" White, Superintendent of the Rocky Boy's Agency, Box Elder, Mont., will replace Artichoker at Lame Deer. Both transfers became effective November 27, 1966.

WASHINGTON – Following extensive environmental and economic analyses and robust tribal and public outreach, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today approved the Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP) and Navajo Mine Energy Project in northwestern New Mexico, under a plan that would minimize and mitigate the project’s projected environmental impacts while maintaining the substantial economic benefits of coal mining and energy production for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and local communities.

A unique collection representing the traditional and contemporary aspects of American Indian art is currently drawing capacity-plus crowds at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and is slated to open September 26 for a two-weeks showing in Berlin, Germany.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of the Interior today announced it has transferred more than $12 million to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund, bringing the total amount transferred so far to $17 million. Authorized by the historic Cobell Settlement, and funded in part by the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program), the Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance through scholarships to American Indian and Alaska Native students wishing to pursue post-secondary and graduate education and training.

Two contracts totaling $367,043 have been awarded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs for road construction projects on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S. D. and the Yakima Reservation in Washington.

A $247, 885 contract for crushed rock and bituminous mat surfacing of approximately 15.5 miles of the Signal Peak road on the Yakima Reservation was awarded to Bohannon Asphalt Paving, Inc.; of Yakima, Wash. Five bids were received, ranging to a high of $298,520.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will visit South Florida this week for a series of events focused on restoring the health of the Everglades. While there, Jewell will also meet with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to announce a milestone in increasing self-determination and economic development for Native American tribes.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced three appointments to high-level positions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and said the appointments were "key steps in making the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the Indian people."

Named to the top-level posts under Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert LaFollette Bennett were:

-- Theodore W. Taylor, a career civil servant, to be Deputy Commissioner. Taylor has been Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution since 1959, and is a veteran of Interior and BIA service.