Past News Items

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that the Minnesota Sioux Indian Tribes presented a Peace Pipe to the United States in a recent White House Ceremony.

Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller accepted the pipe June 25 from Glynn A. Crooks, tribal councilman of the Shakopee-Mdewakanton Sioux Tribe. Crooks called the pipe a symbol of "trust, unity, friendship and peace."

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced he has named William F. Benjamin as regional director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D. The appointment was effective May 16, 2004. Benjamin, who is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, comes to his appointment after having served as deputy regional director of the bureau’s Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Billings, Mont.

The following statement was issued today by Ralph E. Erickson, Special Assistant to the Attorney General:

(Washington, D.C.) -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) will hold its 13th Annual Memorial Service on Thursday May 6, 2004, to commemorate the sacrifice made by law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will start at 10:00 A.M. MDT on the BIA Indian Police Academy grounds in Artesia, New Mexico.

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WASHINGTON – David W. Anderson, an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Lake Superior Band of Ojibwa in Wisconsin, who also shares ancestry from the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, and President Bush’s nominee for Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, was sworn in today by Interior Secretary Gale Norton. “I am deeply honored by the confidence that President Bush and Secretary Norton have shown me through this appointment,” Anderson said.

WASHINGTON–Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney today announced final, updated regulations to simplify the process for Tribes to enter into Tribal Energy Resource Agreements (TERAs) with the Department of the Interior (DOI), so tribes can better take control of developing energy resources on their land. While the opportunity to enter into a TERA has been available since 2008, to date, no Tribe has requested a TERA due to overly burdensome requirements.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the awarding of a $250,000 grant to the Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC) of the Annette Island Reserve in southeast Alaska to support the tribe’s efforts to explore mineral development on its lands. The grant will fund an environmental review of the tribe’s Bald Ridge Aggregate Project, a proposed quarry that would help alleviate high unemployment among tribal members and provide a source of high quality crushed rock for infrastructure projects in the Pacific Northwest.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney today announced she has approved the Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana’s regulations under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act.

Washington - The Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs will conduct a series of regional consultation meetings from August 9th to September 9,2002, to obtain comments, opinions, and ideas that will lead to the establishment of a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee to develop recommendations for proposed regulations under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.