Past News Items

"New Mexico's economy is going to be especially hard hit by the U.S. Senate's proposed budget cuts for Indian programs," said Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, yesterday. New Mexico, because it is home to most of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' central office operations, in addition to being the site of two area offices and seven agency offices, will bear a major share of the cuts. Additionally, there are twenty-three tribes in New Mexico, each of which are slated for a 32 percent cut in tribal program funds.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has announced the appointment of a new Deputy Area Director for the BIA's Aberdeen Area. He is Richard D. Drapeaux, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe Drapeaux has been the Housing Development Officer for the Area, which includes North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

A graduate of South Dakota State University, Drapeaux began his career with the Bureau as a high school teacher on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1952.

President Bill Clinton's fiscal year 1994 budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes to spend $2.4 billion, an increase of $261.3 million over the current year, according to documents released today by the Department of the Interior. This is a significant change from budget requests of the last decade, which often proposed substantial funding reductions for the Bureau.

Kent Frizzell, Acting Secretary of the Interior, today ordered acceleration of the Central Utah Project and Department action on specific related requests submitted August 13 in a resolution by the Ute Indian Tribe

Frizzell directed:

--award by the Bureau of Reclamation of a $26.9 million contract for construction of Vat Tunnel--the largest contract awarded to date for the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project;

Acting Under Secretary of the Interior Kent Frizzell has approved an amendment to an existing water service contract relating to the use by Utah International, Inc. of water stored in the Navajo Reservoir for a proposed commercial coal gasification project near Farmington, New Mexico.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved $1.55 million in Tribal Energy Development Capacity (TEDC)

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel today announced an FY 1988 budget "Supports the President's goals of providing a better quality life through a stronger, more productive America.

"We have made decisions in the budget that emphasize our goal of maintaining or improving the multitude of Interior agency facilities and services used by the public while continuing to meet the budget limitations under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has appointed William Lynn Engles as Public Information Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Engles, an enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, has been the Public Affairs Officer for ACTION in Seattle, Wash. since May, 1972. His experience before that included almost seven years with United Press as a state broadcast editor, news bureau manager and political reporter in Oregon and Montana.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today he has instructed the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to publish a notice of opportunity to comment on the procedures proposed for Class III (casino-type) gaming to be conducted by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut.

Answers to 101 commonly asked questions about American Indians are provided in a newly published booklet prepared by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 60 attractively illustrated pages, the booklet deals with questions about the legal status of Indians, reservations, religious ceremonials, languages, tribal governments, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a variety of other topics.

The booklet also contains information about sources for additional information about Indians, brief bibliographies for both adults and children and a listing of museums with Indian collections.