Past News Items

The Department of the Interior today announced the election of five incorporators of the thirteenth region established for the benefit of Alaska Natives who are not permanent residents of Alaska and who elected to be enrolled in such a region under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

The incorporators were elected in a mail ballot of adult thirteenth region enrollees. The enrollees voted on a list of 24 nominees submitted to the Department by organizations representing non-resident Alaska Natives.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the appointment of Richard Do Butts as superintendent of the Red Lake Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, at Red Lake, Minn. Butts will be succeeded as superintendent at the Umatilla Agency, Pendleton, Oregon by Clarence W. Ringey realty assistant at Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Case Lake, Minn.

Butts succeeds Frell M. Owl who was recently transferred as Red Lake superintendent to the same position at the Northern Idaho Agency, Lapwai, Idaho.

WASHINGTON – Today, Thursday, September 24, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a press conference call to discuss more than $5 million in funding to help Native American and Alaska Native youth become college- and career ready. Under a new Native Youth Community Projects (NYCP) program, the Department of Education is making grants to a dozen recipients in nine states that will impact more than 30 tribes and involve more than 48 schools, some of which are schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education.

Forrest J. Gerard, the recently confirmed Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, today challenged national Indian leaders to join in the preparing a national policy statement on Indian affairs.

Gerard made the challenge in an address at the 34th annual convention of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Dallas, Texas.

Louis C. Peters, former manager of the Alaska Native Industries Cooperative Association, against whom removal action was initiated by the Department of Justice, has offered to settle his dispute with the Government for $2,500, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay disclosed today.

Under the terms of the settlement, Peters would surrender his office and deliver all properties of ANICA and its premises to an authorized representative of the Department of the Interior. Peters would also relinquish all claims against either the United States or ANICA.

WASHINGTON – Following extensive environmental and economic analyses and robust tribal and public outreach, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today approved the Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP) and Navajo Mine Energy Project in northwestern New Mexico, under a plan that would minimize and mitigate the project’s projected environmental impacts while maintaining the substantial economic benefits of coal mining and energy production for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and local communities.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that the Douglas Construction Company of Topeka, Kansas, has been awarded a $3.5 million contract to build new facilities at the Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas.

The contract calls for the construction of a new learning resource center and a kitchen-dining building.

The learning resource center, with approximately 34,800 square feet of floor area, will house a library and provide facilities for media production and distribution, photography processing, TV studio, offices and classrooms.

Appointment of Halter O. Olson as superintendent of the Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay. Mr. Olson succeeds Lonnie Hardin who was transferred to Fort Apache Agency as reservation principal.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Department of the Interior has a final rule for Indian Affairs to implement the Buy Indian Act of 1910 (25 U.S.C. 47, as amended), which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to set aside procurement contracts for American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned and controlled small businesses. The final rule has been informed by public comment and consultation with tribes on the draft proposal, which was published in 2010.

William V. Battese, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Kansas, has been named Superintendent of the Anadarko Indian Agency in Oklahoma, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. His appointment is effective July 3.

Battese has been, since 1974, Assistant Area Director for Administration in the BIA's Portland, Oregon office. He succeeds Stanley Speaks who is now the Area Director at Anadarko.