News by Year

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today denied an application by the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska for the Federal Government to take in trust three acres of land in Council Bluffs, Iowa, as the site for an Indian gaming casino.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet December 16-18 in Tampa, Florida, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

Buck Martin, Director of the White House Conference on Indian Education, reported ·today (November 21, 1991) ~hat the Oneida Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Choctaw Indian Tribe of Mississippi, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), and the National Indian Impacted School~ Association (NIISA) have given in excess of $20,000 to support the conference.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet November 19-21 in San Diego, California, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

The White House Conference on Indian Education's National Advisory Committee announces the appointment of Lionel Bordeaux (Rosebud Sioux), President of Sinte Gleska College in Rosebud, South Dakota, and Nora Garcia (Fort Mojave), Chairperson of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe which is headquartered in Needles, California, as Co-Chairs of their conference.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced that effective November l, 1991, the Bureau of Reclamation will implement interim operating criteria at Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The criteria will remain in effect until the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement (GCDEIS) is completed in late 1993 and final criteria for the operation of the facility are approved and implemented

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced a landmark agreement to allow construction on the Animas-La Plata water project in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the endangered fish species in the San Juan Basin will be protected by the water releases from the Navajo Reservoir. In addition, there will be a recovery program for the endangered fish species.

"These are challenging times in resources development and management. This project meets both environmental protection and water resource needs," Lujan said.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet October 15-17 in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet September 4-6 in Bismarck, N.D. to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

The Department of the Interior is asking for public comments on proposed regulations containing additional criteria and requirements to be used in evaluating requests to take lands in trust for Indian tribes outside existing reservation boundaries.

The proposed rules were published in the July 15, 1991, edition of the Federal Register and comments must be received within 60 days.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Richard Darman and the Intertribal Monitoring Association for Indian Trust Funds announced today the creation of a new OMB-Interior "SWAT" team. Its purpose is to address financial management problems associated with the $2 billion in Indian trust funds. The management problems include:

Failure to reconcile or audit the 300,000 trust fund accounts, some of which are more than 50 years old;

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that he would authorize the call for elections in the Native Villages of Circle, Seldovia and Port Graham to approve constitutions proposed under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).

Once the elections are held, the Secretary will have 45 days under the IRA to approve the constitutions.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today the appointment of David J. Matheson a former chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, as Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs effective May 20

"Dave Matheson has an outstanding record of leadership in Indian affairs in the federal government, as a tribal official and in the private sector," Lujan said. "He is especially well equipped to stimulate much needed economic development on tribal lands across America."

Although have not seen the draft report from the Department's Inspector General, I am well aware of the deplorable conditions at some of the Indian Schools.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan hosted the first gathering of the Advisory Committee for the White House Conference on Indian Education in Washington, D.C., on April 17, 1991.

"Our program for Indian education must have one important objective in mind -- achieving the highest quality education for the children it serves," Lujan said in greeting the group. "As we strive to achieve this goal we realize that the essential roots of Indian heritage must be implicit in any program of Indian education. We can not separate Indian education from Indian communities."

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today he has instructed the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to publish a notice of opportunity to comment on the procedures proposed for Class III (casino-type) gaming to be conducted by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has officially cleared Kenneth Whitehorn, former BIA agency superintendent for education on the Tohono O'odham reservation in Arizona, of any knowledge or involvement in a child abuse case that occurred on the Hopi Indian Reservation in 1987.

The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced it will increase the reimbursement of auditing costs from 50% to 100% for Indian Tribes participating in the Service's Cooperative and Delegated Audit Program. The program enables States and Tribes to join with MMS in providing additional audit coverage of revenues derived from oil, gas and other mineral leases.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced his intention to appoint Jana McKeag, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, to the newly created National Indian Gaming Commission.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said today the President's fiscal year 1992 budget request of $1.9 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) builds upon the foundation established last year by President Bush and Secretary Lujan to reform the deli very of key social, financial, and natural resources programs to American Indians.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that the Department's Fiscal Year 1992 $8.7 billion budget continues the Bush Administration's commitment to improving our Nation's human, cultural and natural resources. Underscoring Lujan's goal of responsible stewardship, the budget increases funding for the America the Beautiful and Legacy '99 initiatives and establishes a new Tribal Horizons program.

Interior Assistant Secretary Eddie F. Brown and United states Peace Corps Director Paul D. Coverdell today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that provides for cooperation between the two agencies in recruitment of returned Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) to work in Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded (BIA) schools on Indian reservations.

Washington, D.C. - OMB Director Richard Darman and Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that, effective immediately, all adjustments associated with the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) accounting and financial management system must be reviewed by a special management team established by the Department of the Interior (DOI). Further, Darman and Lujan announced the establishment of a plan to improve management at the BIA.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today appointed 36 Indian tribal representatives and seven departmental employees to an Advisory Task Force to develop goals and plans for the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

"I look forward to working with this important group to define ways that we can strengthen the organization of the BIA to better serve the Indian people," Lujan said. "These are the people that know the Bureau and know how it can best be of benefit to Indian tribes. I value their judgment."