OPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In keeping with its mission to establish responsive, accountable, transparent, and customer-friendly management of Indian trust funds and assets, the Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform reached out to Indian Country at its fifth public meeting of the year in Bismarck, N.D. All five Commission members – Chair Fawn Sharp, Tex G. “Red Tipped Arrow” Hall, Stacy Leeds, Dr. Peterson Zah, and Robert Anderson – participated in the September 13-14, 2012, conference.

The day before the meeting the Commission visited the Fort Berthold Reservation, home of the Three Affiliated Tribes, for a facilitated public discussion on trust administration. In addition, an outreach session for youth to offer their ideas, an important part of the Commission’s efforts, was held the evening of September 13 at the United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) in Bismarck.

“I have been very gratified at the level of feedback the Secretarial Commission has received to date, and especially at this meeting,” said Chair Fawn Sharp. “All of the ideas, comments, and recommendations are extremely valuable to the Commission’s work as it moves forward on accomplishing the mandate established for it by Secretary Salazar.”

“I want to thank all of those who helped make this meeting so productive, especially UTTC President Gipp, the Three Affiliated Tribes, our speakers, and especially the tribal leaders, organizations, students, and members of the public who took the time give us their thoughts on how the Interior Department can and should manage its trust responsibilities,” Sharp said.

The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform was established by Secretary Ken Salazar to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Department’s management and administration of nearly $4 billion in American Indian trust assets over two years and to offer recommendations on improvements in the future. Building on progress made with the historic Cobell Settlement, the Commission will help to establish a new era of trust administration: one that stresses responsive, accountable, transparent, and customer-friendly management of these substantial funds and assets.

During their visit to the Fort Berthold Reservation, Commission members toured the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Fort Berthold Agency in New Town and inspected one of the Tribes’ oil well pads. They were joined by representatives from Interior’s Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, Office of the Solicitor for Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue, the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, and Lizzie Marsters, Chief of Staff to Interior Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes and the Designated Federal Officer for the Commission, all of whom also attended the public discussion.

The public discussion, which was moderated by Commission member and Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Hall, focused on the challenges and impacts of the oil and gas leasing boom taking place in western North Dakota.

At its public meeting on September 13 and 14, the Commission heard from tribal leaders, representatives of tribal organizations, allottees, and other members of the Indian trust public on ways to improve the Department’s handling of its trust responsibilities.

Attendees heard panel presentations on Hard Assets and Trust Reform and Trust Models. Members of the Hard Assets panel were Jeanne Whiteing, who addressed water rights issues; Tom Fredericks who spoke on strengthening the federal trust responsibility with respect to hard assets; and Helen Sanders, an allottee who provided a landowner’s perspective.

The Trust Reform and Trust Models panel members were Mario Gonzalez, who spoke on treaty rights and approaches to the trust responsibility, and Janie Hipp, senior advisor for tribal relations in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Tribal Relations, who talked about USDA’s approach to the trust responsibility and appraisals, the Keepseagle Settlement, and USDA grants.

The youth-outreach event, hosted by UTTC President Dr. David Gipp, was very well attended. Commission members heard from students and other concerned Native youth on their views about Indian trust management and administration.

“We had a very productive and informative three days in Bismarck, from learning about the oil and gas leasing challenges at the Fort Bethold Reservation to hearing testimony from tribal leaders, tribal organizations and allottees about ways in which the Department could improve coordination and services to Indian Country,” said Marsters.

The Commission has held its meetings via the internet and in person. Its first public meeting took place on March 1-2, 2012, in Washington, D.C., followed by public webinars on May 16 and August 13, and a public meeting in Albuquerque on July 11-12. Future events include a public webinar on November 7 and a public meeting in Seattle, Wash., on December 6-7, 2012.

American Indian and Alaska Native tribal leaders, tribal organizations, and individuals are invited to provide recommendations and possible solutions on improving the Department’s Indian trust management and administration and the delivery of services to Indian Country. Comments and recommendations may be sent by email to trustcommission@ios.doi.gov.

To learn more about the Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform and its activities, please visit http://www.doi.gov/cobell/commission/index.cfm.

-DOI-

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the appointment of E. B. Maytubby, Muskogee, Okla., to fill out the unexpired term of his late nephew, Floyd Maytubby, as Governor of the Chickasaw Indian Nation and the designation of Overton James, Oklahoma City, to serve a two-year term as Governor starting with expiration of the Maytubby term on October 18, 1963.

Under a 1906 law the President was empowered to appoint principal chiefs or “governors periodically for each of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" of Oklahoma - Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. In 1951 this appointing authority was delegated to the Secretary of the Interior. The late Governor Maytubby died last February after serving in the office continuously since 1939

The Federal Government has moved to protect Indian-owned livestock in Indian grazing areas of the southwest through joint action by Secretary of the· Interior Rogers C.B. Morton and Agriculture Secretary Clifford M. Hardin for the release of feed grain by the Commodity Credit Corporation.

The livestock affected are in numerous counties of Arizona and New Mexico that have been declared drought disaster areas, and in San Juan County, Utah. The CCC today authorized feed grain distributions to tribes owning the livestock.

Interior’s request to Agriculture stated: "Hundreds of thousands of Indian-owned livestock are without sufficient forage, feed and water in areas that have been officially declared drought-disaster areas in the southwestern United States. Most of the Indians who own these livestock are dependent upon them as the primary source of subsistence and income.

"The majority of individual Indian livestock owners are financially unable to independently secure the feed necessary to assure survival of their foundation breeding herds through the unpredictable duration of the prevailing drought conditions."

Secretary Hardin explained: "The grain donation is authorized under the Agricultural Act of 1949 which gives the President the authority to determine that a disaster area exists for purposes of federal aid. A subsequent Executive Order of March 1967, applying specifically to Indians, delegates to the Secretary of Agriculture authority to declare Indian reservations acute distress areas.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce has been authorized by Secretary Morton to take all necessary steps to enable the Indians to use the free grain available through CCC. The Navajo, Phoenix, and Albuquerque area offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been instructed to inform the director of the Kansas City Commodity Credit Corporation of specific orders for grain transmitted by the various affected Indian tribes. The tribes are to pay costs of processing and of local distribution from several central points of CCC delivery.

The proposed budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for fiscal year 1983 requests appropriations of $1.05 billion for the operation of Indian programs and construction projects.

The appropriation request for the operation of Indian programs exceeds 1982 funding by $40 million.

Programs receiving increases include school operations, plus $3.7 million; social services, plus $8.3 million; self-determination services, $7.6 million; business enterprise development, $7.9 million, and natural resources development, $9. 5 million.

There is an increase of $12.7 million for the construction of buildings and utilities and a decrease of $3.6 million for road construction.

The budget also calls for a general overhead cost reduction of $16 million. Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith said that consolidating area offices would be one of the administrative actions taken to cut overhead costs. Smith said that the development of communications and the widespread use of computers "greatly reduced the need for regional offices geographically close to the groups they serve."

The 1983 budget plan also calls for the closing of elementary boarding schools at Concho, Oklahoma and Wahpeton, North Dakota and the post-secondary vocational training school, Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute at Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Bureau will also be transferring village day schools in Alaska to the state system.

Funds requested for new initiatives include $5 million to help small tribes acquire and maintain basic management capabilities and $10 million for tribes starting economic development ventures. The funds would assist the tribes with "seed money" aimed at encouraging private sector investment and sound business principles in the tribal programs. Indian Education: $256,7 million is requested for BIA Indian education programs.

This consists of $179.8 million for school operations; $26 million for Johnson-O'Malley programs; $30.i _million for college student assistance grants; $4 million for adult education; $10.4 million for tribally controlled community colleges and $6.4 million for the operation of the Haskell Indian Junior College at Lawrence, Kansas and the institute of American Indian Arts at Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The budget request also includes $51.1 million for the proposed transfer of the Title IV program from the Department of Education. Funds in the amount of $838,000 were also requested to supervise the spend out of prior year obligated balances for a Department of Education Indian school construction program.

Indian Services: The $98.7 million requested for social services includes $7.7 million for carrying out provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The $56.9 million for self-determination services provides $30.3 million to cover tribal overhead costs associated with P: L. 93-638 contracts and $19.4 million for grants to tribal governments. Construction: The $60.1 million requested for construction of buildings and utilities include $15 million for first phase construction of Hopi High School in Arizona and $45.1 million for facilities improvements and repairs. The $45.9 million for irrigation construction includes $29.8 million for the legislatively mandated Ak Chin, Arizona project (to be made available upon enactment of authorizing legislation.) There is also $1 million for a Fallon, Nevada project and $2.6 million for the Grass Rope Project in South Dakota. A line item breakdown of the budget request, with the 1982 funding figures follows:

*1982 figures include actual appropriations and pending supplemental request.

**Programs included in the Department of Education in FY 1982, including rescission proposed in FY 1982.

***Includes Ak Chin Irrigation Project proposed for later transmittal.

Special Trustee Ross O. Swimmer today announced four tribal consultation sessions that will be held to discuss issues relating to the participation of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) in the Department of the Interior consolidation of all real estate appraisal functions. The consultations will be held on September 24,2003, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and on October 28,2003, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Formal notice of the consultations will be published in the Federal Register later this week.

"These tribal consultations will be critical to resolving issues associated with OST's participation in this consolidation that are unique to real estate appraisals performed on Indian trust lands," stated Swimmer.

On June 19, 2003, Secretary Norton announced that real estate appraisal functions currently performed by various agencies within the Department would be consolidated into a single office. This action is taken in response to concerns about the objectivity and management of the appraisal programs within the Department, and documented in reports issued by the Department's Inspector General, the General Accounting Office and other groups.

Discussions with the Department and OST's participation on the Department's Appraisal Reform Team indicate that it would be beneficial for the OST appraisal program to join this consolidation. However, issues specific to the appraisal of Indian trust assets require special consideration.

"I am looking forward to a productive discussion with tribal leaders on the potential benefits to the Indian trust asset appraisal program that can result from this consolidation, including additional resources to address the appraisal backlog in Indian country, and an increased level of beneficiary confidence in asset valuations," Swimmer remarked. "Some important issues, including the future process for contracting and compacting the appraisal function, need to be discussed with the tribes. These meetings are the perfect opportunity for a thorough discussion of these issues."

The OST Office of Appraisal Services was created after the appraisal program was transferred from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to OST in June 2002. The Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians is responsible for the oversight and coordination of the Department's efforts to reform its practices relating to the management and discharge of the Secretary's Indian trust responsibilities.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced the BIA Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D., will hold the 8th Annual Great Plains Region/Tribal Economic Development Summit on April 26-27, 2006 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The theme for this year’s summit is “Building Human Capital: Identifying Challenges and Creative Solutions in Indian Country.” It will focus on breaking down barriers that exist in business and workforce development by bringing together resources that can be utilized to overcome them. The summit is expected to draw 500 attendees from tribes, businesses and state and federal agencies from the Northern Plains and Midwest.

“The BIA Great Plains Regional/Tribal Economic Development Summit is an exciting and highly informative venue for doing business in Indian Country,” Ragsdale said. “For seven years this event has successfully carried out the BIA’s mission to promote economic opportunity for tribes, and I anticipate this year’s summit will continue that trend.”

Among the featured speakers from the tribal, public and private sectors will be South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds, Lynn Jensen, State Director, USDA Rural Development, Chairman Harold Frazier, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Mark Allen, President, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Karen Atkinson, Executive Director, Native American Contractors Association, Lance Morgan, CEO, Ho Chunk Inc., Tex Hall, Chairman, Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota and Cecilia Fire Thunder, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe.

A tradeshow, receptions, panel discussions and workshops will address the needs of Indian entrepreneurs by providing attendees with opportunities to discuss start-up financing, marketing strategies, business plan development, contracting and other small business topics with representatives from state and federal agencies, private industry and academia. Finalists representing two categories will participate in the 2nd Annual Business Plan Competition for Native American youth from the Great Plains Region. The twenty finalists come from Junior / Senior High and college age students who have been selected to attend the summit, all expenses paid, where they will give an oral presentation for the judges, who will also conduct a question-and-answer session with the students.

For more information on the 8th Annual Great Plains Region/Tribal Economic Development Summit, contact Onna LeBeau in the BIA Great Plains Regional Office Branch of Economic Development at 605-226-7381.

--DOI--

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Donald E. “Del” Laverdure has expressed his sincere condolences to the family of fallen Bureau of Indian Affairs wildland firefighter Anthony Polk, who was killed in the line of duty on June 8. His remarks were conveyed in a letter to the Polk family that will be read at a memorial service being held this afternoon on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation in southwestern Arizona.

Polk, 30, a resident of Yuma, Ariz., and a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe with ancestry from the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Reservation, died in a tragic one-vehicle accident while on assignment at the Montezuma fire. He was serving as an Engine Boss when the accident occurred.

Speaking on behalf of the Department of the Interior, the acting Assistant Secretary said, “Anthony was well known and respected by those who knew him inside the Forestry community and among those who fight in the dangerous wildland fire zones. We honor Anthony for his commitment and service to protecting those whose lives and property are threatened by wildland fire. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.”

Polk served as a firefighter for 10 years at the BIA’s Fort Yuma Agency before becoming the leader of the Agency’s Prescribed Fire Operations and Fuels Program. Through that program, he worked with Interior agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; other federal agencies including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and numerous local fire departments.

An interagency Serious Accident Investigative Team is looking into the cause of the accident, and more information will be released as it becomes available.

Andrew Polk was a 1999 graduate of San Pasqual Valley High School in Winterhaven, Calif. He is survived by his immediate family: daughter Aiyana; mother Ramona Villa; siblings Manuel, Alex and Raquel Villa; and grandmother Lucinda Polk. The family has requested that cards be sent to the Polk Family at 673 Baseline Road, Winterhaven, California, 92283, and donations to the AEA Federal Credit Union in Yuma County under the name Anthony Polk and donation account number 1613510-010.

The memorial service is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. local time at the Quechan Community Center. A wake is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 15, at the Yuma Mortuary Chapel followed by funeral services at 5:00 p.m. at Cry House in Winterhaven.

-DOI-

Prior Lake, Minn. — The fourth consultation session on the proposed rule to implement the Buy Indian Act will be held on the morning of Thursday, August 23, 2012. The Act provides Indian Affairs with the authority to set-aside procurement contracts for qualified Indian-owned businesses. The proposed rule describes uniform administrative procedures that Indian Affairs will use in all of its locations to encourage procurement of goods and services from eligible Indian economic enterprises, as authorized by the Buy Indian Act.

The proposed rule has been in development for decades. The Bureau proposed this rule in the Federal Register on several prior occasions, but never succeeded in publishing a final rule. In 2010, Indian Affairs distributed a new draft of the rule and held three consultation sessions in preparation for the updated proposed rule.

The current proposed rule incorporates much of the previous consultations. Indian Affairs is committed to finalizing the rule by the end of the calendar year and is seeking written comments on this proposed rule to consultation@bia.gov by September 17, 2012, and/or hopes tribal representatives can attend one of the consultation sessions.

For more information contact: Jonodev Chaudhuri, Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, (202) 208–7163; jonodev.chaudhuri@bia.gov; or David Brown, Office of Acquisitions, Indian Affairs, (703) 390–6605, David.Brown@bia.gov.

CREDENTIALS: All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) and valid media credentials.

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WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced approval of a ‘land-into-trust’ application from the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. Today’s action is one in a series of necessary approvals that will enable the tribes to build the first U.S. refinery in decades, supporting American made energy – including domestic resources from the Bakken Formation – while also creating jobs.

“Today’s historic decision is another step forward in the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy and commitment to strengthen Tribal communities and generate jobs for rural America,” Salazar said. “By working with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people to place this land into trust status, we are supporting infrastructure that will help bring American oil and gas to market while promoting Tribal economic development and self-determination regarding land and resource use.”

If all required approvals are granted, the proposed MHA Nation Clean Fuels Refinery would be the first new refinery built in the United States in more than 30 years. Project developers estimate the refinery could create 800 to 1,000 construction jobs, up to 140 operations jobs, and millions in annual revenue streams to benefit the Tribes and surrounding rural communities. As proposed, the 13,000 barrel-per-day facility would refine Bakken Formation crude oil into diesel fuel, propane and naptha products for the U.S. market. Since the President took office, domestic oil and gas production has increased each year, with domestic oil production currently at an eight year high, and natural gas production at its highest level ever.

“Today’s action is an important step in the Three Affiliated Tribes’ proposal to develop the MHA Nation Clean Fuels refinery,” said Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn, who approved the application as one of his first acts in office. “Approving the land into trust status will allow the Tribes to continue their work to develop the facility in a safe and responsible way that brings increased economic opportunity and employment to their people and to North Dakota.”

Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of Obama Administration initiatives to facilitate safe and responsible development of domestic energy resources on U.S. public lands and Indian trust lands across the country. Interior manages nearly 2 million subsurface acres of mineral estate in active areas of the Bakken play in North Dakota.

The Tribes requested that Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) accept a 469-acre piece of property into trust, with a proposed refinery on about 190 acres and the remaining acreage to be used for the production of feed for the Tribes’ buffalo herd.

Future federal permitting and oversight will be handled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

The BIA and EPA co-led the Environmental Impact Statement, with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Tribes as cooperating agencies. The BIA and EPA consulted with the Tribes, on a government-to-government basis, as well as with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and tribal and state historic preservation officers to determine compliance with EPA’s relevant regulations, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed project received full public review and comment, and the final EIS was issued in August 2009.

The EPA issued a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit for the refinery in August 2011, a step under the Clean Water Act that details required conditions and limitations for the proposed refinery’s operations.

The thirty-day notice of the Department’s decision to acquire the land in trust will be published in the Federal Register

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 199

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PHOENIX, Arizona – As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut carbon pollution and create clean energy jobs, on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will make several major announcements related to energy development on tribal lands. The announcement will be held at the Heard Native American Museum at 1:00 pm MST.

Jewell will be joined by Deputy Secretary Mike Connor, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Roberts, a member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, and Bureau of Indian Affairs Director for the Western Region Bryan Bowker, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

As Chair of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, Secretary Jewell leads a comprehensive federal initiative to work more collaboratively and effectively with Tribes to advance their economic and social priorities. The Council’s Energy Subcommittee is, in part, focused on supporting tribal communities as they prepare for the impacts of climate change on their native lands, which includes goals outlined in the President’s Climate Action Plan to assess climate change vulnerabilities and develop regional solutions to combat its impacts.

WHO:

• Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior
• Mike Connor, Deputy Secretary of the Interior
• Larry Roberts, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs
• Bryan Bowker, Western Region Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs

WHAT: Press Conference on Tribal Energy

WHERE: Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art 2301 N. Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004

WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2014 12:45 pm MST – Media check-in 1:00 pm MST – Announcement

MEDIA: Media interested in attending the press conference are encouraged to RSVP here.