Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney today announced the establishment of the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) which will report directly to her office. The new BTFA will assume responsibility for financial operations and functions currently performed by the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) effective today.

WASHINGTON – Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced a substantial enhancement in existing efforts to increase capital investment for business and economic development in Indian Country. Since the advent of the Indian Financing Act of 1974, Indian Affairs’ Guaranteed Loan, Insurance, and Interest Subsidy program has provided opportunities for tribal and Indian-owned businesses to obtain adequate credit in the capital investment market

Successful bidders for oil and gas leases on Indian lands will be required to deposit 25 percent of the bonus bid and will be given 30 days to complete the lease under new regulations announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons.

The amended rules also require the successful bidder to remit, within the 30-day period, the balance due on the bonus bid, the first year’s rental, and his share of the costs of advertising. In the event of failure to meet these requirements, the deposit will be forfeited."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The fiscal year 2009 budget requests $2.2 billion for Indian Affairs, which includes Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) programs. The budget request includes increased funding for the Interior Department’s Safe Indian Communities and Improving Indian Education initiatives as well as for the Indian Guaranteed Loan and Job Placement programs to meet tribal and individual Indian business financing needs and to help alleviate high unemployment rates in Indian Country.

More Indians are being educated and receiving aid in voluntary relocation than ever before in history, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay pointed out today in commenting on the annual report submitted by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L, Emmons.

The Indian Commissioner told of the increased emphasis which the Department placed on Indian education and the voluntary relocation, as well as other facets of the Bureau's many-sided program for the year just ending,

ALBUQUERQUE – An estimated audience of almost 1,000 guests and dignitaries today watched as Interior Department officials formally dedicated the Bureau of Indian Affairs gleaming modern office building at 1011 Indian School Road N.W. in Albuquerque, N.M., to former Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr., and officially opened DOI’s new National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC), a major occupant of the facility. Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced he has ordered a thorough reexamination of the Department 1s favorable report on S. 332, a bill to validate existing land titles and liberalize future land sales on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana.

He directed Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst to proceed immediately with the review. Assistant Secretary Ernst supervises the Indian Bureau and three other bureaus in the Department.

Washington – James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary announced a series of consultation meetings to be held January 9-19, 2005 throughout Indian country. In accordance with Title V, Section 504 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Executive Order 13175, the DOI, Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development seeks to consult on the development of proposed regulations to govern Tribal Energy Resource Agreements.

Contracts totaling $519,000 have been signed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with 15 States to provide agricultural extension services this fiscal year, the Department of the Interior announced today. The services are for Indian ranch and farm families on reservations.

The contracts were signed under authority of the Johnson-O’Malley Act of 1934, as amended in 1936. This law authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to contract with and pay States and political subdivisions for the provision of services such as education and agricultural extension to Indian people.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College (SCTC) in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and the Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) in Sells, Ariz., have been deemed eligible for assistance under the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978 (P.L. 95- 471). Under the Act, the Secretary of the Interior has authority to make grants to tribally-controlled colleges or universities for the purpose of continued and expanded educational opportunities for Indian students.