Past News Items

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced the schedule for the month of January 2010 for the Interior Department’s series of tribal consultation meetings to develop a Department-wide tribal consultation policy.

The Assistant Secretary noted two changes in the January schedule: the January 5 meeting will be held in Ft. Snelling, Minn., instead of Minneapolis and the January 14 meeting will be held in Palm Springs, Calif., instead of Sacramento.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the assignment of Sidney M. Carney, a career employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to work with "the Seneca Indians of New York on problems resulting from construction of the Kinzua Dam and Reservoir on the Allegheny River.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced the launch of a new effort by the Indian Affairs Indian Highway Safety Program and the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services to help tribes keep drunk drivers off of their roads and highways. The IHSP and BIA-OJS have acquired four BAT (Breath Alcohol Testing) Mobiles for tribal use to effectively enforce traffic laws and ordinances and to reduce injuries and fatalities due to driving under the influence. Purchase of the vehicles was made possible by funding from the U.S.

The broad and growing interest of American Indians in education for their children is graphically revealed in a recent survey by the Bureau of Indian Affairs showing Indian participation on 284 local school boards and 414 parent teacher associations throughout the country, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Included in the number of Indian participants are four school board chairmen in the Montana-Wyoming area and a president of a public school PTA in the Arizona-New Mexico area.

James L. McCabe, a Navajo Indian, has been appointed Supervisory General Engineer for the San Carlos Irrigation Project at Coolidge, Arizona, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Raymond V. Butler announced today.

McCabe, 42, has been working this past year in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Phoenix Area Office.

A graduate of Utah State University, McCabe has his degree in civil and irrigation engineering. He has also attended Iowa State University and George Washington University and has participated in the Department of the Interior Management Training Program.

On Thursday, August 20, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will visit the Navajo Nation, meet with tribal officials and hold a news media availability with Nation President Joe Shirley at Window Rock, Arizona. Secretary Salazar will be accompanied by Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins and Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk.

Who: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Solicitor of the Interior Hilary Tompkins Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk

Appointment of George M. Felshaw, a veteran of more than 20 years' service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as superintendent of the Western Washington Indian Agency, Everett, Wash., effective May 1, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

Felshaw, who has been in charge of the Bureau's field relocation office at Los Angeles since 1957, replaces Clarence W. Ringey who is transferring to the Bureau's area office at Aberdeen, S. Dak., April 29. Ringey has been superintendent at Everett since 1955.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe today announced approval of a major uranium exploration and development agreement between the Navajo Nation and the EXXON Corporation.

The agreement gives EXXON the fight to explore or prospect for uranium in a 400,000 acre tract on the Navajo Reservation in San Juan County, New Mexico. If ore in sufficient quantities to warrant development is discovered, EXXON is authorized to take a total of 51,200 acres to lease for mining purposes.

BISMARK, N.D. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Department will fund $500 million in new school and housing construction, road and bridge improvements, and workforce development projects for federally recognized tribes across the nation. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Department’s Indian Affairs office will also offer federally guaranteed loans for American Indian-owned businesses. These investments will significantly improve the quality of life in tribal communities nationwide.

A group of young American Indian and Eskimo trainees in electronics who have prepared themselves for defense and communications jobs in their home State of Alaska under the adult vocational training program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will visit President Kennedy at the White House at 9:45 a.m. August 2 during the course of a two-day visit to the Nation's Capital, the Department of the Interior announced today.