OPA

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover, today issued two proposed positive findings concerning petitions for Federal acknowledgment from the Eastern Pequot Indians and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians, both groups are headquartered in North Stonington, Connecticut.

Both petitioners meet the seven criteria for Federal acknowledgment under the federal regulations. (25 CFR Part 83) The positive proposed finding states that both petitioners are, singly and together, the continuation of a historically state-recognized tribe whose relationship with the State of Connecticut goes back to the early 1600's.

• The historical Eastern Pequot tribe has maintained a continuous historical government-to-government relationship with the State of Connecticut since colonial times;
• The historical Eastern Pequot tribe had a state reservation established in colonial times, and has retained its land area to the present;
• The historical Eastern Pequot tribe had members enumerated specifically as tribal members on he Federal Census, Special Indian Population Schedules, for 1900 and 1910.

The modem conflicts between the two have focused on their relationship with the State of Connecticut. The Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut have taken the position that there is only one tribe, but the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut have taken the position that the ancestors of the other petitioner were not of Eastern Pequot ancestry and were never part of the tribe. The Department found that there was not sufficient information in the record to determine that there is only one tribe with two political factions.

The proposed positive findings for both petitioners do not prevent the Department, in the final determination stage, from recognizing a combined entity , or both petitioners, or either one of the current petitioners but not the other, or neither of the current petitioners, depending upon the evidence developed during the comment periods.

These are proposed findings based on available evidence. The next stage is a 180-day comment period during which petitioners and third parties may submit additional evidence and analysis. In addition to evidence and argument on the proposed findings in general, petitioners and interested parties, and informed parties may submit comments as to the Secretary's authority, under the circumstances of recent separation of the two petitioners, to acknowledge two tribes or only one tribe which encompasses them both as the continuation of the historic tribe. At the end of the 180 days, each petitioner will have 60 days in which to respond to comments from the other petitioner and third parties. The final determination will be based on both the new evidence submitted in response to the proposed finding and the original evidence used in formulating the proposed finding.

Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hilda Manuel, has announced her resignation from government service effective April 7, 2000. Ms. Manuel, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, has worked at the BIA for ten years, including more than five years as Deputy Commissioner. She served two Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs appointees. Ms. Manuel has provided strong leadership during some tumultuous times for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"Hilda Manuel has been down in the trenches with her sleeves rolled up dealing with some of the toughest issues that face this Department," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said. "Her hard work is greatly appreciated and we wish her every success in future endeavors."

"Few people know the burden of responsibility that a Deputy Commissioner bears, and Hilda carried that burden with great strength and integrity ," said Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs Kevin Gover. "I believe there can be no finer tribute to a leader than to say that she made things better. Hilda made things better. I wish her great success and thank her for her service."

Ms. Manuel led the Trust Reform effort at the BIA, working diligently to put into place the automated Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS). She has been a champion of the BIA Law Enforcement Office. She has worked hard to put more Indian police in Indian Country to provide the adequate personnel backup so badly needed in the remote communities they protect.

Prior to her appointment as the Deputy Commissioner, Ms. Manuel served as the first Staff Director of the Indian Gaming Management Office. Ms. Manuel has also served as the Director, Office of Tribal Services, Chief of the Division of Tribal Government Services, and Chief of the Branch of Judicial Services.

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Tribes), Portland General Electric Company (PGE), and the U.S. Department of the Interior today approved an agreement providing for the Tribes and PGE to share the 408-megawatt Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project near Madras, Ore. Before the signing of the agreement, Warm Springs tribal elder, Delvis Heath, provided a beautiful traditional blessing for the ceremony.

Members of Tribes overwhelmingly approved the agreement in a referendum election held on March 28, 2000.

Under the agreement, PGE and the Tribes will pursue a joint license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Last year they had filed competing license applications. The agreement is also subject to approval by the Oregon Public Utility Commission and FERC.

The Tribes will purchase portions of the project from PGE over a proposed 50-year license period. On December 31, 2001, the Tribes would acquire one-third interest. Twenty years later, the Tribes have the option to increase their share to 49.99 percent plus an additional option to increase their ownership to 50.01 percent by 2037. The Tribes would purchase all shares at net book value (initial investment minus depreciation). In turn, the proposal provides that PGE's current annual payments of approximately $10 million to the Tribes for use of Tribal lands and resources would cease on December 31, 2001. In lieu of those payments, the Tribes would earn revenues by marketing their share of the power output from the project.

PGE would continue to operate the project, which would be managed by a joint operating committee of PGE and the Tribes.

The Department of the Interior retains its authorities to provide conditions for the protection of the environment including tribal lands and resources in the new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but agrees not to use those authorities to require additional payments to the Tribes, or to alter the relationship between PGE and the Tribes set forth in the agreement.

Olney Patt, Jr., Chairman of the Warm Springs Tribal Council said, "We are very pleased to have taken this step toward our goal of economic self-sufficiency and control of tribal resources that generate revenue. Sharing ownership of the dams with our new partners begins to achieve such control."

PGE General Manager of Hydro Operations Jim Wyatt said, "PGE is delighted to enter into this agreement with the Tribes, and we are very positive about our partnership and the future of our business relationship."

Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes said, "Interior is pleased to support the Tribes and PGE in establishing this unique and historic relationship, which will provide multiple benefits to the Tribes, PGE, and the public."

Pelton Round Butte is the largest hydroelectric project located entirely in Oregon. Its generators convert the energy of Deschutes River water into 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electric power per year, enough to supply a city the size of Salem.

PGE, headquartered in Portland, is Oregon's largest electric utility. The Tribes are a federally recognized Indian Tribe with a reservation in north Central Oregon, covering 1,000 square miles (640,000 acres), 12 miles north of Madras.

Effective April 2000, all remaining Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust fund accounts have been converted to a new, automated Trust Fund Accounting System (TFAS). The implementation of this new accounting system at all BIA Regional Offices marks the completion of a significant component of the Secretary of the Interior’s Trust Management Improvement Project. TFAS is the responsibility of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST).

"Every tribal and IIM account and all investments have now been converted to the same commercial trust fund accounting system that is used in many major banks nationwide," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said. "The completion of this effort is a credit to the efforts of OST and this milestone marks the Department's commitment to the implementation of comprehensive Indian trust fund reform."

The IIM trust fund accounts in the Southern Plains, Eastern Oklahoma, and Northwest Regions of BIA were the last to be converted from an antiquated accounting system to a commercial off-the-shelf system created and operated by SEI Investments, Inc., Oaks, Pennsylvania. The new system will provide basic receipt, accounting, investment, scheduled disbursing and reporting functions to account holders, functions that are common to commercial trust funds management systems.

SEI, a major industry provider of trust management systems, will operate the TFAS system, while the day-to-day trust fund accounting activities will continue to be performed by OST's Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM). TFAS is the same basic system in use at more than 150 other major financial and investment institutions.

This conversion successfully completes an effort that began August 1998 at BIA's Western, Pacific and Alaska Region pilot sites. Since that initial work was conducted, over 262,000 IIM trust fund accounts have been converted to TFAS. This effort included manually examining, verifying and correcting the account data prior to conversion, and testing the validity and accuracy of the data once it was on the new system.

OTFM Director, Donna Erwin, whose office spearheaded the conversion effort is very satisfied with TFAS, "The utilization of this commercial trust system provides state-of-the-market software, and enables the government to participate with other private sector trust companies in future enhancements and products of the system."

Eventually, the functions of TFAS will be interfaced with an asset management system currently under development. BIA's Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS) will be responsible for tracking the land title, lease, billing and accounts receivable information for improved asset management. The interface of TFAS and TAAMS will complete the information circle on account and asset management to tribes and IIM beneficiaries.

The conversion of the trust fund accounts to TFAS is one of eleven separate projects described in the revised (February 29, 2000) High Level Implementation Plan, the Department's framework to implement comprehensive trust reform.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation (Tribes), The Montana Power Company (MPC), PPL Montana (PPLM), Trout Unlimited (TU), and the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) announce that they have reached an agreement to settle the Montana Power Company v. FERC lawsuit, currently pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes said, "This important agreement will protect the tribal trust resources of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. It is an excellent example of how Federal resource agencies are working collaboratively and constructively with licensees, tribes and others in the hydropower licensing arena."

Under the agreement, the Tribes will receive approximately $35 million from MPC and PPLM to fund fish and wildlife mitigation activities for the protection and utilization of the Flathead Indian Reservation in connection with the operation of the Kerr Hydroelectric Project.

Vice Chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, Jamie Hamel said, "The Tribes are pleased to have the long-standing dispute regarding Kerr Project environmental mitigation resolved and we appreciate the efforts put forth by all parties toward achieving a settlement. The Tribes believe that the terms of the settlement are consistent with the terms of the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 and with the requirements of the Federal Power Act. It will protect the Flathead Reservation from impacts attributable to the Kerr Project so that the Tribes can preserve the Reservation as their traditional homeland."

The Kerr Hydroelectric Project is a 170 megawatt project that includes a dam, powerhouse and other facilities located on the Flathead Indian Reservation downstream of the natural outlet of Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana. Project boundaries encompass all of Flathead Lake. It was originally licensed to a predecessor of MPC in 1930 for 50 years. The project was relicensed in 1985 as part of a settlement among MPC, the Tribes and Interior that allowed Interior subsequently to require additional license conditions for the adequate protection of fish and wildlife. In November 1995, Interior issued the contemplated license conditions and FERC included them in 1997 and 1998 orders amending the license.

MPC challenged the license conditions in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Tribes, TU, and Interior intervened in the litigation. MPC's project interest was recently sold and its portion of the license transferred to PPLM in December 1999.

PPLM, the Tribes and Interior filed an application to amend various articles of the existing Kerr Hydroelectric Project license under the agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on April 21. Shortly after FERC approval, funds under the settlement will be paid to the Tribes, and the MPC v. FERC lawsuit will be dismissed.

The settlement would resolve the challenges raised by MPC to Interior's conditions and retain the mitigation measures Interior considers necessary to provide for the protection and utilization of the Flathead Indian Reservation. These amendments will not change the requirement that the project be operated as a base load facility to protect fish and wildlife downstream of the dam, nor the requirement to make annual fish and wildlife mitigation payments of $1.44 million (in today's dollars).

Dick Cromer, Executive Vice President of MPC, said, "We are pleased to be a party to this agreement. The parties worked well together and produced a settlement that is in the public interest."

PPLM President Roger L. Petersen echoed MPC's enthusiasm. He said, "PPLM is proud to be the new co-licensee for the Kerr Project with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and looks forward to a productive partnership with them. This settlement is important progress for the Tribes and we are honored to be a part of it."

Some of the terms of the settlement include:

• Payment to the Tribes of $10.75 million for fish and wildlife habitat restoration activities on the Reservation or, as needed, to supplement funding of fish stocking, supplementation, and reintroduction activities in Flathead Lake and the lower Flathead River;
• Payment to the Tribes of $7 million for fish stocking, supplementation, and reintroduction activities in Flathead Lake and the lower Flathead River;
• Payment to the Tribes of $17 million for fish and wildlife habitat acquisition on the Flathead Reservation.

"We've waited 15 years for a final agreement on getting fish and wildlife dollars from the Kerr project to the ground, so this settlement is an important achievement," says Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, a national conservation group representing 120,000 conservation minded anglers, including 2,100 in Montana.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has scheduled a public meeting August 8- 9,2000 in Reston, Virginia, to address technical questions that have been raised by state, local and tribal officials concerning the Bureau of Indian Affairs' March 31, 2000 proposed findings to acknowledge federal recognition of the Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut.

The meeting was requested May 18,2000 by the Connecticut Attorney General's office. Comments on the proposed findings are due by September 27, 2000.

The meeting will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., August 8- 9,2000 at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2051 Mercator Drive, Reston, Virginia.

"On June 23, the parties to the case, Schaghticoke Tribal Nation vs. Bruce Babbit, Secretary of the United States Department of lnterior, and Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, United States Department of lnterior, filed a joint stipulation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia."

"The stipulation states the Department of Interior will decide by August 8, 2000, on the Schaghticoke tribe's request for concurrent consideration of its petition with the petition of the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe."

"The Department will not render any proposed finding, or any other proposed or final determination, on the petition for federal recognition filed by the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe until October 2, 2000."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has changed the location of the public meeting scheduled for August 8-9, 2000, to address technical questions raised by state, local and tribal officials concerning the Department of the Interior’s March 31, 2000, proposed findings to acknowledge federal recognition of the Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut.

The meeting location was changed to better accommodate the participants and observers. The meeting will be held at the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), 1776 ‘D’ Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The meeting will start at 9:00a.m.

The meeting was requested on May 18, 2000, by the Connecticut Attorney General’s office. Comments on the proposed findings are due by September 27, 2000.

WHO: U.S. Department of the Interior

WHAT: Public meeting.

WHEN: August 8-9, 2000, at 9:00a.m.

WHERE: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1776 ‘D’ Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Map of Location