OPA

DENVER — The Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) today published a Federal Register Notice establishing an Indian Oil Valuation Negotiated Rulemaking Committee charged with bringing clarity and consistency to oil valuation regulations governing production on American Indian lands.

“This initiative will enable the regulatory process to keep pace with a changing marketplace, ensuring that American Indian Tribes and individual Indian mineral owners continue to receive a fair return for energy production on their lands,” said Greg Gould, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources Revenue in the DOI’s Office of Policy, Management and Budget.

The negotiated rulemaking committee, authorized and established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, will make recommendations to replace existing regulations governing the valuation of oil production from American Indian leases, which has been in place since March 1, 1988. Many changes have occurred in the oil market since the 1988 rule was codified.

The Federal Register Notice can be accessed via the web at: www.regulations.gov, or directly at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=ONRR-2011-0007-0003.

The committee includes representatives from Native American Indian Tribes, Individual Indian Mineral Owner Associations, the oil and gas industry, and the Department of Interior. The committee is expected to hold its first meeting in late February 2012.

The Office of Natural Resources Revenues, under the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, is responsible for collecting and disbursing revenues from energy production that occurs onshore on Federal and American Indian lands and offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf. ONRR makes disbursements on a monthly basis from royalties, rents and bonuses it collects from mineral companies.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) will hold its fourth training session to improve the trial advocacy skills of tribal court prosecutors, defenders and judges on October 23-25, 2012, in Chinle, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation Reservation. This training will focus on cases dealing with domestic violence.

The session, the fourth of six scheduled for Indian Country, is being conducted under the Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program, a joint effort by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice. The Program furthers the mandate of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 to strengthen tribal sovereignty over criminal justice matters on federal Indian lands by sharpening the skills of those who practice within the tribal court system.

The Program is the result of a collaborative effort by the OJS and DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative to offer trial advocacy training with courses designed specifically for tribal courts and free training to the judges, public defenders and prosecutors who work in them. Training is provided in three areas – domestic abuse, illegal narcotics and sexual assault on children and adults. Instructional materials are prepared by experts knowledgeable about tribal court issues. The Program is unique because it also includes training specifically for public defenders.

The remaining two sessions will be held Nov. 13-15 in Seattle, Wash., and January 15-17, 2013, in Albuquerque, N.M. Earlier sessions were held July 24-26, 2012, in Duluth, Minn.; August 14- 16, in Ignacio, Colo.; and September 11-13 in Great Falls, Mont.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to credentialed media representatives, who must display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.— Bureau of Indian Education Director Keith Moore announced today that BIE-funded schools across Indian Country will have the opportunity to participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Green Ribbon Schools program, and will soon invite them to apply to the BIE to be nominated for this national recognition.

“I am excited to have the BIE participate in the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools pilot program,” said Moore. “The Green Ribbon Schools award will provide additional opportunities for us to showcase how our schools are making progress on creating healthier learning environments for our students.”

The Green Ribbon Schools program was recently launched by ED to recognize schools that save energy and reduce operating costs, create environmentally friendly learning spaces, promote student health, and provide environmental education to incorporate sustainability into their curricula. The recognition award is part of a larger ED and BIE effort to identify and disseminate knowledge about practices proven to result in improved student engagement, academic achievement, graduation rates, and workforce preparedness, as well as a government-wide aim to increase energy independence and economic security. To date, 35 state agencies, which includes the BIE, have announced that they will be participating. Each participating state agency will have their own unique application meeting ED’s program requirements.

According to ED guidance, Green Ribbon Schools receiving the national award will have achieved or made considerable progress toward the three pillars established in the program: 1) energy efficient buildings; 2) healthy students and school environments; and 3) environmental literacy of all graduates. The combined achievement in these three areas will be the basis for the Green Ribbon Schools award. All schools must meet high college- and career-ready standards, be in compliance with federal civil rights laws, and all federal, state and local health and safety standards and regulations.

The bureau will release additional details shortly on their website for BIE-funded schools, including the BIE Green Ribbon Schools application, training opportunities, and program timeline. Up to four schools may be nominated for the award. For more information about the bureau’s participation in the program visit http://www.bie.edu/greenribbonschools/index.htm or visit the ED Green Ribbon Schools website at www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbon-schools to learn more about the program.

As part of this effort to promote a comprehensive approach to creating a healthier school environment in all BIE-funded schools, the bureau committed to the Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC) initiative in 2010 and encouraged all BIE-funded schools to sign up to become Team Nutrition Schools. The LMIC website http://www.letsmove.gov/indiancountry includes information about resources, grants and programs available to assist schools in becoming healthier places of learning.

Immediate questions or inquiries regarding the BIE’s participation in the Green Ribbon Schools initiative can be emailed to greenribbonschools@bie.edu.

The Bureau of Indian Education in the U.S. Department of the Interior implements federal education laws, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, in and provides funding to 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools and peripheral dormitories located on 64 reservations in 23 states and serving approximately 48,000 students from the nation’s federally recognized tribes. Approximately two-thirds are tribally operated with the rest BIE-operated. The bureau also serves post secondary students through higher education scholarships and support funding to 26 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges. It also directly operates two post secondary institutions: Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today took action on two tribal gaming applications from tribes in Michigan and New York.

The Assistant Secretary approved a proposed gaming facility in Marquette County, Mich., determining it would be in the best interest of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community.

“I undertook a careful and thorough review of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community’s application. The tribe’s application satisfies the rigorous standards contained in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and our regulations,” Echo Hawk said. “The tribe demonstrated that it has a significant historical connection to the proposed gaming site, and its proposal to move an existing gaming facility closer to its reservation has strong support from the local community.”

The Assistant Secretary also dismissed a gaming application submitted by the Cayuga Nation of New York for the acquisition of land in trust for gaming purposes in Seneca County, N.Y., returning the application to the tribe. The tribe’s application was incomplete, and did not address all of the requirements contained in the Department’s regulations. The Department has removed the application from consideration, although the tribe can submit a new application at a time when it is prepared to address all of the relevant factors in the regulations.

The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is located in Baraga County, Mich., and has approximately 3,310 members. It has more than 6,000 acres of existing trust lands on its reservation in the state’s Upper Peninsula. The tribe has been operating and regulating a class III gaming facility in Marquette County, about 90 miles from its headquarters, since at least 2000. The tribe is proposing to relocate this existing facility to a new location within Marquette County, on an 80-acre parcel at the site of the former Marquette County Airport. The new site is 18 miles closer to the tribe’s reservation than its existing facility. Under a 2000 settlement agreement with the state of Michigan, the tribe has agreed to close its existing off-reservation gaming facility if its proposal receives final approval and it begins gaming activities on the new site.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) prohibits Indian gaming on lands acquired in trust after the law’s enactment in 1988, unless one of three explicitly crafted exceptions applies. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community submitted its application under IGRA’s “Secretarial Determination” exception, which requires the Secretary to determine the proposed gaming establishment is in the best interest of the tribe and its citizens, and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. The governor of Michigan must concur in this determination before the land can be acquired in trust for the tribe for gaming.

Under IGRA, the governor of Michigan has one year to concur in the Assistant Secretary’s determination. If the governor does not concur in the Assistant Secretary’s determination, then the tribe may not conduct gaming on the proposed site.

For more information concerning these decisions, please click on the following links:

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community

Cayuga Nation of New York

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs will be holding tribal consultation sessions on Oct. 29 and 30 and Nov. 1 and 9, 2012, to seek comments and suggestions from tribal leaders in preparation for the Interior Department’s 2013 American Indian Population and Labor Force Report. The sessions will provide an opportunity for tribal leaders to provide their views on the report’s scope, data, and methodology. Four consultation sessions will take place: three in person and one via a national teleconference.

Tribal leaders will be asked to provide their ideas on issues such as data collection, definitions of “service population” and other terms, how service populations should be measured, and other issues in order for the Department to meet the report’s 2013 deadline. The Department did not publish a report in 2010 because the data collected did not meet the standards of quality and reliability that are required of federal agencies in reporting official statistics.

Public Law 102-477, the Indian Employment, Training, and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992, as amended, requires the Department to publish the American Indian Population and Labor Force Report at least once every two years. Section 17 of the Act requires the report to capture the population eligible for services the Secretary provides to American Indians at the national level by state, Bureau of Indian Affairs service area and tribal level.

Written comments may be submitted by email to consultation@bia.gov no later than November 12, 2012. For more information and to view background and explanatory materials related to the listening and consultation sessions, please see “Preparation for American Indian Population and Labor Force Report – 2013” at http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/Consultation/index.htm.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will hold a public webinar meeting on Nov. 7, 2012. The objectives of the meeting are to:

• Attend to Commission operations as needed,
• Report on outreach activities,
• Review and discuss revised draft documents to-date,
• Take public comments on the drafts, and
• Review and discuss the agenda for the Commission’s Dec. 6-7, 2012, meeting and related youth outreach session.

Attendance is open to the public, but limited space is available. Members of the public who wish to attend must RSVP by Nov. 6, 2012, by registering at the following web address: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/384347209. Instructions for joining the webinar will be emailed after registration occurs. A notice of this meeting was published in the Federal Register on Oct. 22, 2012.

The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform was established by Secretary Salazar in 2011 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.

For more information about the Commission and its work, please visit the Interior Department website at http://www.doi.gov/cobell/commission/index.cfm

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) will hold its fifth training session to improve the trial advocacy skills of tribal court prosecutors, defenders and judges on November 13-15, 2012, in Seattle, Wash. This training will focus on cases dealing with sexual assault on children and adults.

The session, the fifth of six scheduled for Indian Country, is being conducted under the Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program, a joint effort by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice. The Program furthers the mandate of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 to strengthen tribal sovereignty over criminal justice matters on federal Indian lands by sharpening the skills of those who practice within the tribal court system.

The Program is the result of a collaborative effort by the OJS and DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative to offer trial advocacy training with courses designed specifically for tribal courts and free training to the judges, public defenders and prosecutors who work in them. Training is provided in three areas – domestic abuse, illegal narcotics and sexual assault on children and adults. Instructional materials are prepared by experts knowledgeable about tribal court issues. The Program is unique because it also includes training specifically for public defenders.

The final session in this series will be held January 15-17, 2013, in Albuquerque, N.M. Earlier sessions were held July 24-26, 2012, in Duluth, Minn.; August 14-16, in Ignacio, Colo.; September 11-13 in Great Falls, Mont.; and October 23-25 in Chinle, Ariz.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to credentialed media representatives, who must display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

-DOI-

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs program to recruit and train American Indian and Alaska Native postsecondary students in the field of energy and natural resources management is accepting applications for twelve internships in its 2010 class. The application deadline is March 15 for an internship period beginning May 25 through August 6.

“Indian Country’s young men and women are the future leaders of their tribal nations,” said Echo Hawk, “and as such they will play a critical role in shaping the future of tribal energy development. This internship program is intended to help prepare the next generation of tribal energy and natural resource management professionals.”

The Energy Resource Development Tribal Internship Program was started last year by the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. The ANL will provide leadership, educational and networking activities for the interns, who will reside and study on-site at its premier national laboratory located near Chicago, Ill.

“By directly engaging them in the work we do at our facility, this program offers a terrific opportunity for students to learn about science and engineering while gaining valuable employment experience,” said ANL Director of Educational Programs Harold Myron. “Students will be able to take and use these new skills to benefit their own or another tribal community.”

Interns will gain hands-on experience working with nationally known scientists in a wide range of research fields including energy resource development, both renewable and non-renewable, and environmental evaluation and analysis of potential impacts from energy resource development activities.

This year’s program also will include two Faculty and Student Teams (FaST). The FaST teams will be comprised of one faculty member and two to three students each. This approach will provide collaboration and hands-on research opportunities in mutually beneficial research areas for faculty members and interns.

The program’s purpose is to increase the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives who can effectively manage a tribe’s energy and natural resources. It also helps Indian Affairs meet mandates of Title V of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which requires the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical assistance to those Indian tribes seeking to develop their energy resources, establish an Indian energy resource development program and further the goal of Indian self-determination. It also provides an opportunity for American Indians and Alaska Natives to train for careers in the science and engineering professions, two fields where they are underrepresented.

Applications are currently being accepted through a rolling admissions process through the ANL’s website at http://www.dep.anl.gov/p_undergrad/TribalInternships. The deadline is March 15, 2010. For more information, contact the ANL Division of Educational Programs at (630) 252-4114.

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, whose mission is to foster stronger American Indian and Alaska Native communities by helping federally recognized tribes with employment and workforce training programs; helping tribes develop their renewable and non-renewable energy and mineral resources; and increasing access to capital for tribal and individual American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses. For more information about IEED programs and services, visit http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/IEED/index.htm.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today welcomed leadership from the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C. to hold discussions on a potential Little Colorado River water settlement that could be acted upon by Congress. This is the first time that leaders of the two tribes have joined with a Secretary of the Interior to address this shared water issue.

“I thank the Navajo and Hopi leadership for participating in today’s historic discussions, and for the decades of work that they have put into solving this issue,” Salazar said. “We had an extremely meaningful dialogue today that I believe will lay the groundwork for a fair and mutually beneficial agreement that the two tribes, the United States, and the state parties can agree upon. I deeply respect the sovereignty of the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation and know that, for any water settlement to be successful, the tribes must be fully committed to it. It is my hope that over the coming days and weeks that we may work together to finalize the details of a settlement that will deliver critical water, infrastructure and economic development to the Navajo and Hopi people.”

While there has been general agreement on key aspects of a proposed Little Colorado River water settlement, including the potential investment of nearly $360 million to fund construction of major water delivery systems on the Hopi Reservation and the Arizona side of the Navajo Reservation, both tribes had expressed serious concerns about various aspects of the proposed settlement.

“Today’s historic meeting provided the Hopi Nation with an opportunity to identify outstanding issues that need to be resolved before a settlement can move forward,” said Chairman Leroy Shingoitewa of the Hopi Nation. “Because of the high level involvement of our leadership, the Navajo leadership, and Secretary Salazar and his team, I believe that we can and should move forward.”

"We made practical progress today, thanks to Secretary Salazar's personal involvement and commitment, to open possibilities for our nation to convert 'paper' water rights into 'wet' water that our people need and deserve," said Speaker Johnny Naize of the Navajo Nation.

Today’s historic meetings grew out of an invitation that Salazar issued to both tribes last month, when he met with them in Arizona. The Secretary also invited Senator Jon Kyl to the opening session today because of the constructive role that he has been playing in working toward a settlement of the long-standing Little Colorado River water rights claims. Any settlement would have to be enacted by Congress.

“The Obama Administration has reenergized the federal government’s commitment to resolve Indian water rights and to provide settlements that truly benefit Indian tribes,” said David J. Hayes, Deputy Secretary of the Interior. “We appreciate the candor and seriousness with which both tribes approached today’s discussions, and we look forward to continuing this critical conversation in the near future.”

Since 2009, the Obama Administration has enacted six water settlements, totaling more than $2 billion, that will provide permanent water supplies and offer economic security. The settlements include the Taos Pueblo and Aamodt case pueblos, including the Pojoaque, Tesuque, San Ildefonso, and Nambe pueblos in New Mexico; as well as the Crow Tribe of Montana; the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona; the Navajo Nation in New Mexico; and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes in Nevada.

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WASHINGTON, DC (January 8, 2010) – U.S. Department of the Interior officials will welcome college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to Bureau of Indian Education schools in New Mexico and Arizona on January 12-13 to kick off the new Our Way to Health™ Program.

WHO: Myron L. Rolle – college football 2008-09 All-American safety at Florida State University and recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Myron is attending Oxford University this school year pursuing a Master’s degree in Medical Anthropology, while training for the 2010 National Football League Draft.

WHAT: A joint initiative between the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education and the Myron L. Rolle Foundation, the public-partnership will bring an innovative physical fitness and health program, developed by Myron himself, into Interior-funded American Indian schools.

WHEN/WHERE:

January 12, 2010 – 1:30 p.m.

Isleta Elementary School 1000 Moonlight Drive,

Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico Fifth and sixth grade students from Isleta Elementary and San Felipe Pueblo Elementary School (San Felipe Pueblo, NM) will attend

January 13, 2010 – 9:30 a.m.

Tuba City Boarding School

306 Main Street, Tuba City, Arizona Fifth and sixth grade students from Tuba City Boarding School, Hotevilla Bacavi Community School (Hotevilla, AZ) and Keams Canyon Elementary School (Kearns Canyon, AZ) will attend

AGENDA: Each kickoff event will include: Welcome by School Principal or representative Remarks by U.S. Department of the Interior officials Address to students by Myron Rolle, explaining the Our Way to Health Program, current developments in his life, his interest in First Americans, the importance of physical activity and leading a health lifestyle. Myron Rolle Q&A with students, teachers, parents and members of the community. Myron Rolle Q&A with media

DETAILS: Media are invited to attend but must RSVP to Nedra Darling or Jeff McKenzie at least one hour prior to each event, and present appropriate media credentials upon entering school property. No media filming or photography of students will be permitted without written consent from a parent or guardian. Use of any footage taken during kickoff events will be limited solely to news stories pertaining to the Our Way to Health Program.

About the Bureau of Indian Education

Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education serves 42,000 students in 183 schools and dormitories across the country on 64 reservations in 23 states. The mission statement of BIE reflects its commitment to “manifest consideration of the whole person by taking into account the spiritual, mental, physical, and cultural aspects of the individual.”

About the Myron L. Rolle Foundation

The Myron L. Rolle Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to the support of health, wellness, educational and other charitable initiatives throughout the world that benefit children and families in need. The Foundation was established in 2009 by Rhodes Scholar and College Football All-American Myron L. Rolle and his family.