Past News Items

DENVER — The Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) today published a Federal Register Notice establishing an Indian Oil Valuation Negotiated Rulemaking Committee charged with bringing clarity and consistency to oil valuation regulations governing production on American Indian lands.

WASHINGTON - Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 7 at 10:30 am eastern, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate and White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Munoz will hold a press conference call with reporters to make an announcement regarding tribal nations and federal disaster aid.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar kicked off the White House Tribal Nations Conference today at the Interior Department, emphasizing President Obama’s commitment to reform, restructure and rebuild federal relations with Indian Country and underscoring initiatives that are building safer and stronger American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced a Tribal Consultation Policy for the Department of the Interior, launching a new era of enhanced communication with American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. The new policy emphasizes trust, respect and shared responsibility in providing tribal governments an expanded role in informing federal policy that impacts Indian Country.

WASHINGTON -- As part of President Obama’s commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to Native Americans, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today named five prominent American Indians to a national commission that will undertake a forward-looking, comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management of nearly $4 billion in Native American trust funds.

WASHINGTON - Today, November 28, 2011, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will hold a media teleconference to announce a sweeping reform of federal leasing regulations for American Indian lands that will help to expedite economic development and spur renewable energy development in Indian Country.

Media wishing to participate in the 12:00 pm noon (Eastern Time) conference call should dial 1- 888-606-7043; the passcode is LAND LEASE.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced a sweeping reform of federal surface leasing regulations for American Indian lands that will streamline the approval process for home ownership, expedite economic development and spur renewable energy development in Indian Country.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Bryan Rice deputy bureau director of the BIA’s Office of Trust Services at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Rice, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, had been serving as the OTS’s assistant director for resource protection since August 2009. His appointment became effective on October 23, 2011.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named businesswoman and attorney Karen J. Atkinson, an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota, as director of the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development.

WASHINGTON – Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske and the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that on Saturday, October 29, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, Americans will be able to drop off their expired, unused and unwanted prescription drug pills at sites across Indian Country free of charge, no questions asked. By doing so, they will be helping prevent drug abuse and theft.