OPA

A proposed project to develop oil and gas resources on the Seminole Indian Tribe's Brighton Reservation in Florida would not create significant environmental issues or concerns, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has concluded.

The BIA has prepared an environmental assessment on a proposal by the Gulf Oil Corporation to engage in exploration, development and production of oil and gas within the boundaries of the reservation. The proposal calls for a seismic reconnaissance of some 37,000 acres of reservation land, exploratory wells and a subsequent selection of wells for production. The construction of pipelines, tanks and other facilities will be involved. According to the assessment completed by the BIA, no environmental impact statement will be required.

Short-term impacts on the environment would be typical of those encountered elsewhere in nearby locations in Florida, the BIA said, and potential impacts on land use, wildlife habitats and air/water qualities were judged to be insignificant.

Single copies of the assessment may be obtained from the BIA Eastern Area Office, 1951 Constitution Avenue, Washington, D. C. 20240 or the BIA Seminole Agency, 6075 Stirling Road, Hollywood, Florida 33024.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs published in the Federal Register, December 28, 1981, a rule to establish procedures for the preparation of a roll of Mohave Indian descendants enrolled as members of the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The Mohave Indians placed on this roll would share with the members of the Fort Mohave Indian Tribe an award of $468,358 from the Indian Claims Commission.

According to the rule, the BIA's Colorado River Agency Superintendent will publish a list of persons determined as meeting the qualifications for enrollment. Persons who believe they are qualified but are not on the list could then appeal the omission within thirty days and submit information supporting their claim.

For further information, contact Sharlot Johnson, Branch of Tribal Operations, Phoenix Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 3030 N. Central Avenue, Suite 705, Phoenix, Arizona 85011, phone 602/241-2317 or FTS 261-2314

Gordon E. Cannon, an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Red Lake Agency in Minnesota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

Cannon, who had been Superintendent of the Fort Totten Agency in North Dakota, began his career with the BIA in 1961.

A United States Army veteran, Cannon, 42, previously served as realty officer for the Colville, Hoopa and Western Washington agencies.

Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Sidney Mills said today that the Department continues to recognize Mrs. Stephanie Hanson as the Treasurer of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, despite a prior attempt by the tribal council to oust Mrs. Hanson from that role

Mills, who last week received the final report and recommendations of an investigatory team he appointed in January, also said that two petitions requesting referendum elections to amend the tribal constitution and to vote on Mrs. Hanson's status as treasurer were invalid because they were not signed by the required 25 percent of the eligible voters

Even though the petition calling for .a referendum on the status of Mrs. Hanson has been deemed invalid, the tribal council has under other authority decided to put a question about Mrs. Hanson's status before the Red Lake electorate on March 26.

A letter to Tribal Chairman Roger A. Jourdain, signed by Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick Lavis reiterated a September 13, 1979, statement by Secretary Cecil D. Andrus that the prior attempted removal of Mrs. Hanson was not in compliance with the Red Lake Band's constitution. Lavis also told Jourdain the referendum election on Mrs. Hanson's status scheduled by the tribal council for March 26 could not make legal an action of the tribal council which has originally taken, was contrary to the band's own governing documents. "The election, if held would be advisory only and not be binding on this department,"

Lavis said. "We would expect the council to permit her to reassume her position and to allow her to function as treasurer as soon as she obtains a proper bond." He added that this could lead to the reinstatement of some of the tribal contracts and grants for which funding has been withheld because of the lack of a functioning treasurer. Lavis said if the council wanted to provide for the recall or removal of its district representatives or officers it should enact appropriate "removal and recall X" ordinances of general application as required by Section 2 of Article of the band's constitution.

A report on current governmental problems on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota:., prepared at the request of Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Sidney Mills, has been distributed to members of the Tribal Council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas, Mills said today.

The report was done by Robert Bennett, a former Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Graham Holmes, a retired BIA official. They were asked in January by Mills to meet with tribal officials and other members of the Band to assess "problems that plague the reservation during the current governmental crisis."

The reservation has suffered from violence and dissension since last spring when the tribal council voted Mrs. Stephanie Hanson from her elected role as tribal treasurer. Her supporters reacted by destroying tribal buildings and equipment, private homes and other property valued at an estimated $4 million. Although Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus determined that the tribal council lacked authority to remove Mrs. Hanson, the council has not allowed her to resume the ·Office. The lack of a treasurer has forced suspension of funding for several tribal contracts and grants.

The Bennett-Holmes report said that the "reservation is polarized into two groups: those supporting the Constitution Committee (backers of Mrs. Hanson) and those supporting the Tribal Council." The Constitution Committee group, according to the report, alleges that there have been "arrogant abuses of tribal powers, including failure to follow the (tribal) Constitution and applicable rules and regulations." On the other side, the Tribal Council charges that "failure of the Federal Government to support the Tribal Government and control lawlessness on the reservation is undermining the Tribe's sovereignty ·and ability to function."

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today that charges of financial abuses or mismanagement in the Comanche Indian Tribe of Oklahoma appear to be unfounded.

Hallett said that the Inspector General's Office of the Interior Department this month completed a survey of the tribe's financial records, including "documentation" presented to support charges made by some members of the tribe. It determined that there was no substantiation of the charges and that the tribe's financial records were in good order.

"The IG' s office determined that no further audit was called for "Hallett said The Comanche Tribe has been embroiled in internal political problems since a February 2 meeting of the tribal council at which the tribal chairman, Kenneth Saupitty, was removed from office by a recall vote of 184 to 1 . Saupitty has also questioned the validity of this recall. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, however, has administratively upheld the validity of the recall.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today that Indian self-determination will be boosted by a recent decision by the President's Management Improvement Council, agreeing to sponsor the Tribal Manager Corps (TMC), a new initiative to strengthen and improve Indian tribal governments. The TMC project is designed to make professional managers/administrators from government agencies and private industry available to work with Indian tribe’s to help meet tribal management needs and, thereby, further Indian self-determination capabilities.

Hallett said that the endorsement of the TMC project by the President's council enhances recruitment of needed personnel within government agencies, further the commitment of the agencies to work together for the common goal and gives greater status within the Administration to tribal governments. ! Hallett said that the Tribal Manager Corps will be an inter-agency, inter-organization, effort to recruit a cadre of individuals with management expertise in various fields. Participating tribes would then select from this cadre a manager who would work with the tribe for a year or longer to institute agreed-upon management improvements.

"We hope to help 20 tribes in the first year," Hallett said. "We plan to develop a general profile of tribal management needs, identify specific assistance wanted by individual tribes and then recruit the kind ·of people who can respond to these needs." Hallett indicated that the assignment of the managers to the tribes could be handled under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act or through contracts under the Indian Self-Determination Act It is expected that state and local governments, as well as the Federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations will be involved in the project. An Interagency Task Force to direct the TMC is being formed, Hallett said. "It will include top-level representation from the government agencies, private industry and tribal organizations. We expect to announce further details on this in the near, future," he said

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett announced today that a new Bureau of Indian Affairs agency is being established to serve the Laguna Pueblo

The Commissioner has instructed the BIA Albuquerque Area Office to begin taking administrative actions necessary to make the new agency operational. These include renting office space, completing position descriptions, transferring property and other such matters. Laguna and nine other Pueblos have been served by the Southern Pueblos Agency, located in Albuquerque. Commissioner Hallett said that the creation of the new agency "should improve services to the other nine Pueblos, as well as to the Laguna Pueblo."

Laguna has a membership of about 6,000 and a land area of more than 400,000 acres, including the largest open-pit uranium mining operation in the world. The official document authorizing the new agency was signed by Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus on February 21.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' 1981 budget request has been reduced by ~40.2 million as a part of the President's anti-inflation program. The President's revised budget proposals, sent to Congress March 31, cut some $15 billion from the total U.S. budget he proposed to Congress on January 28. The proposed cuts for the Bureau call for the closing of two off-reservation boarding schools, Stewart Indian School in Nevada and Fort Sill Indian School at Lawton, Oklahoma. The largest reductions, however, will be brought about by delaying irrigation project funding ($22.3 million) and road construction ($10.8 million).

The new budget proposal would reduce funding for the operation of Indian programs by $7.1 million. This includes $1 million from the closing of the two schools; $4.1 million in personnel compensation; $1.7 million for supplies and equipment, and $300,000 from a program to recruit Indians into various starting-level professional positions in the Bureau. If the Stewart and Fort Sill schools are closed, the students can be accommodated in other Bureau schools, the Office of Indian Education Programs has indicated. A large proportion of the students now enrolled at the two schools are from out-of-state. Stewart has a current enrollment of 409 and Fort Sill has 160. Irrigation projects eliminated from the 1981 request are: Colorado River Reservation, $780,000; White Mountain Apache, $5 million; Rocky Boy's, $375,000; Omaha Reservation, $525,000; Standing Rock, $2 million; Cheyenne River, $500,000; Lower Brule, $5.2 million; and Yakima, $400,000. In addition funding requested for the project at Fallon, Nevada, was reduced from $3 million to $2 million and the Navajo Irrigation Project from $18 million to $11.48 million. The proposed reduction in road construction from $59.4 million to $48.6 million would require an 18 percent reduction Bureau-wide. These budget reductions are in the funding requested; the actual funding provided will be determined by legislation to be passed by the Congress and signed by the President. The 1981 fiscal year begins October 1, 1980.

Following President Carter's proclamation of April 22 as Earth Day '80, Commissioner Hallett today asked BIA Area Directors and Agency Superintendents to observe Earth Day by meeting with tribal officials to discuss environmental matters. The meetings are to be held the week of April 21-25 or soon after to "demonstrate the Bureau's recognition of our responsibilities for the protection and enhancement of environmental quality and our commitment to an ongoing dialogue with tribal officials regarding the environment," Hallett said.

A coalition of citizen and public interest groups is planning Earth Day '80 on the tenth anniversary of the original Earth Day in 1970. In his proclamation, President Carter urged the American people to "rededicate ourselves to the creation and maintenance of safe and healthy surroundings."

"I hope that, in the observance of Earth Day, each of you will make a personal commitment to the goal which the President has said we must achieve -- 'another decade of environmental progress,'" Hallett wrote to the BIA officials.