Past News Items

A draft environmental impact statement on a proposal to surface mine Crow Indian and State-owned coal from more than 2,000 acres in south central Montana has been prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, and released for public comment.

The statement, filed with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), discusses the environmental effects of a proposed expansion of Westmoreland Resources existing Absaloka Coal Mine to 2,151 acres (870 hectares) in Crow Indian Ceded Lands in northern Big Horn County just north of the Crow Indian Reservation.

WASHINGTON – Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced the names of three individuals who have received career appointments to Senior Executive Service (SES) positions within the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). They are Stephanie E. Birdwell as the Deputy Director for Policy, Evaluation and Post Secondary Education, Bartholomew “Bart” Stevens as the Deputy Director for School Operations and David Talayumptewa as the Assistant Deputy Director for Administration. The appointments became effective on January 4, 2009.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart Lo Udall and Vernon Smith, Council President for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona, discussed the industrial development potential of the 46,000-acre reservation on November 20.

Mr. Udall promised his support for a proposal to construct a million dollar electronic plant on the reservation. Area Redevelopment Administration financial support for the Dickson Electronic Corporation project is also being sought, Mr. Smith said. Employment for more than 200 Indians is forecast.

Approximately 20 percent of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) agricultural water supply available under Arizona's basic entitlement to water from the Colorado River has been allocated to five Indian tribes by Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman will be the keynote speaker on Tuesday, July 24, 2007, at the Bureau of Indian Education’s first National Partnership Conference on improving Indian education. The event “Partnerships for Student Success” will take place on July 24-26 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel in Denver, Colo.

The Department of the Interior announced today that the Bureau of Reclamation will undertake the planning and construction of the $135 million Navajo Indian Irrigation Project in New Mexico, which will then be operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Congressional legislation authorizing the project was signed by President Kennedy on June 13, 1962.

A meeting of the general council of the Cherokee Delaware Tribe, scheduled to be held September 11 in Dewey, Okla., has been cancelled, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

RAPID CITY – “Native Americans Entrepreneurs: Blueprint for Economic Development in the Great Plains” is the theme of the 9th Annual Great Plains Regional/Tribal Economic Summit to be held April 17­18, 2007, at the Ramkota Hotel in Rapid City, S.D. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D., is a sponsor of this annual event.

An offering of oil and gas leases on Indian lands of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation in Utah has brought high bonus bids totaling nearly $650,000 to the Indian landowners, the Department of the Interior reported today.

I have just returned from nearly a week in Alaska, and it has been a real eye-opener. Every time I go to Alaska I develop some new perspectives. This week I returned with an especially strong feeling of the urgent challenges which must be met in the near future.

Today, Alaska is America's last frontier. Its history, its distances and climate and natural resources, and the many human factors involved, all combine to make it a unique land indeed.