Past News Items

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.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced awarding of a $70,395 contract for base course road surfacing on the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, to Allison &Haney, Inc., of Albuquerque.

The project begins at the junction of New Mexico Highways 32 and 53 south of Gallup and runs 9.833 miles westward along Route 53 to the Zuni Pueblo. Allison & Haney, Inc. was the low bidder. Higher bids ranged from $74,520.94 to $95,153.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of the Interior (DOI) is continuing its schedule of presentations to employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) on the reorganization of both agencies. This week, employees of the Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D., will be visited on June 24 and Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office employees will be briefed on June 25 in Muskogee, Okla.

Black Hills Ditching Company, Inc., has been awarded a $46,370 contract for improvements to sewerage systems at the Indian Bureau's Northern Cheyenne Agency in Lame Deer, Montana, and at Tongue River School in Busby, Montana, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The Black Hills bid was the lowest of seven received for the work. Other bids ranged from $46,700 to $67,585.76.

There are approximately 245 Indian children enrolled in the Tongue River School.

On February 20, 2003, the Department of the Interior received amendments to a Class III gaming compact executed by the Forest County Potawatomi Community and the State of Wisconsin. Under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the Secretary may approve or disapprove the compact before the date that is 45 days after receipt of the compact. If the Secretary does not approve or disapprove the compact by that date, the compact is considered to have been approved, but only to the extent that its terms comply with the requirements of IGRA.

Award of two contracts for construction of 77 flood control structures in the Schuk Toak, Gu Achi and Sif Oidak Districts of the Papago Indian Reservation in southern Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

One contract, covering 47 structures, goes to Clyde Jones and Sons, Indio, Calif., who bid $64,705. The other ten bids on this job ranged from $65,625 to $142,000.

The second contract, for 30 structures, was awarded to Don L. Riggs of Phoenix, Ariz., with a bid of $27,550. The other 14 bids ranged from $32,025 to $77,000.