Past News Items

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced the Code of Federal Regulations has been amended to guarantee that Indian tribes will receive adequate offers for mineral leases on their lands.

The amendment provides greater uniformity in regulating the leasing of Indian lands for the mining of minerals other than oil and gas. It also furnishes a safeguard patterned after that which applies to oil and gas leases. The latter are required by law to be advertised, not negotiated.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Bush’s pledge on education that “no child shall be left behind” was reaffirmed today with the release of his Fiscal Year 2002 budget request of $2.2 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).The request includes $292.5 million for BIA school construction – an increase of $162,000 over the 2001 enacted level – of which $122.8 million is to replace six aging BIA school facilities around the country, including the Ojibwa Indian School located in Belcourt, N.D.

Award of a $78,415.84 contract for construction of 2.899 miles of road on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The route will connect the Indian community of Hays with the new State Federal-Aid highway extending from the Fort Belknap Agency south to a new crossing of the Missouri River. The new State road by-passes the town of Hays and the construction of the Indian Bureau section will permit access for the community to the State highway.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover today thanked Oklahoma Indian organizations and tribal leaders for their receptivity and attention to the message he delivered on Indian youth issues during his visit to the state last week. "I an exceedingly grateful that my message on attacking the causes of alcohol and drug abuse among Indian youth was warmly received everywhere I traveled in Oklahoma," Gover said.

Award of three contracts totaling $152,508 on the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona, and the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, for water drilling and water-storage development facilities was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Water development at the contract locations is necessary to sustain present schools and facilities and to determine feasibility of additional school facilities planned at these locations.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs will represent the Department of the Interior at the signing ceremony of Truckee River Water Quality Settlement Agreement, in Reno, Nevada. The execution of this agreement ends a long standing emotionally charged lawsuit initiated by The Pyramid Lake Tribe against the Cities of Reno, Sparks, the State of Nevada, and the EPA This agreement establishes a joint program to improve water quality in the Truckee River through purchase and dedication of water rights and to use treatment plant effluent in place of fresh water for certain uses.

Award of a $157,300 contract for the construction of Indian school facilities at Conehatta, Mississippi, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Conehatta School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 180 pupils. The new facilities will provide more adequate facilities for the present enrollment and allow the enrollment of 30 pupils not now in school due to lack of school facilities.

H.R. 3286 introduced into the House of Representatives on April 23, 1996 proposes to amend the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 making it easier for non-Indians to adopt Indian children without tribal consent, Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs announced today.

With the retirement of Kenneth A. Marmon as superintendent of the Seminole Indian Agency, Dania, Fla.; on May 31, Virgil N. Harrington will take over full responsibilities of the position, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Since last January Mr. Harrington has been sharing the responsibilities jointly with Mr. Marmon, who retires after 35 years of service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A national conference of area directors of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) culminated here October 20 with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that updates a 1988 agreement and spells out the management framework for implementation of a national strategy the two federal agencies are undertaking to prevent and treat alcohol and substance abuse among American Indians and Alaska Natives.