Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that the Department of the Interior disbursed more than $13.4 billion in revenue generated by energy production on Federal and American Indian lands and offshore areas in Fiscal Year 2014, with increases in state and Indian Country revenues over the prior year.

The disbursements include more than $1 billion to American Indian Tribes and individual Indian mineral owners, marking the first time disbursements from energy production on American Indian lands topped the billion-dollar mark.

Regulations establishing procedures for Indian tribes seeking to form tribal constitutions or charters, or make changes in existing ones, were published in the Federal Register January 7, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with tribal nations and fulfill federal trust obligations, on Friday, September 26, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn and Acting Assistant Attorney General Sam Hirsch of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division will join Navajo Nation tribal leaders and members to announce a major tribal trust accounting settlement.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of three bills affecting Indians now before Congress. One bill would- increase the appropriation authorization for Indian adult vocational education programs and the other two would permit tribes to issue long-term land leases for industrial and commercial development of reservation properties.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons will visit the major Indian areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota the week of September 14, immediately following his trip through Oklahoma.

On the 14th he will meet with the Menominee Indians in general council at Keshena, Wisconsin, and will also inspect the tribal garment factory and the tribal forest. In the afternoon he will leave for the Lac du Flambeau Reservation passing through the Stockbridge and Crandan Reservations en route,

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today the availability of approximately $9.1 million for three funding opportunities for federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, Alaska Native regional or village corporations, authorized tribal organizations, and Tribal Energy Resource Development Organizations.

Formal dedication of the Chippewa Ranch Conservation Center, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs near Mahnomen, Minn. is scheduled for Sunday, October 29. Principal speaker for the event will be Will Rogers. Jr., assistant to Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

In announcing the dedication of the Job Corps Center on the White Earth Reservation, Commissioner Bennett said it is the eighth center to be established on or near an Indian reservation.

The first 14, Indian athletes named to the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame at Lawrence, Kansas, will be formally inducted November 25, according to the Board, which includes representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Nine of the Athletes will be inducted posthumously.

Ceremonies marking the occasion will be held in the Student Union Building of Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas. A display room has been set aside to house the memorabilia on Indian sports heroes until the Hall of Fame Building can be erected on the famed Haskell campus.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to promote strong, prosperous and resilient communities, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit the Beatrice Rafferty School in Perry, Maine on Monday to discuss ongoing educational reform initiatives to ensure students attending schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) receive a high quality education delivered by tribal nations.