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TRIBAL ALERT! Deadline for Comments The Department of the Interior (DOI) will hold its fifth of seven Tribal Consultations on Trust Assets Management and their proposal to create a new Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management on Thursday, January 17, 2002, in San Diego. This is the only tribal consultation scheduled in California. The BIA has agreed to pay for one representative from each tribe to attend the nearest consultation. The consultations began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and will have passed through Minneapolis, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Rapid City, South Dakota, before arriving in San Diego, California. The last two consultations will be held in Anchorage, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. Tribes attending the first consultation in Albuquerque asked DOI to schedule additional consultations in all twelve BIA regions, however DOI has not scheduled any additional consultations. Thus, we anticipate that many tribes from the Portland and Phoenix areas will attend the California consultation. The format of the consultations includes a 30-minute session of opening remarks from the DOI officials in attendance. Thus far, we have confirmed that Wayne Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and Neal McCaleb, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, will attend the San Diego consultation. We are awaiting confirmation of Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton’s attendance. In Albuquerque the opening remarks were followed by tribal comments. A 5-minute time limit was suggested in an attempt to accommodate more speakers. There were about 150 persons signed up to speak. However, there was time for only 55 speakers. There were two15-minute breaks and 1½ hours set aside for everyone to have lunch on their own. Strict adherence to the time schedule and limits would have afforded no more than 66 speakers the opportunity to speak. With 109 federally recognized tribes and the largest urban Indian populations in California, we recognize at the outset that not everyone will have the opportunity to speak. The general consensus from the Albuquerque consultation as well as the vote taken at the annual conference of the National Congress of American Indians is that tribes are opposed to the reorganization of the trust management functions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs into the new Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. Tribal leaders asked Secretary Norton to withdraw her proposal. However, Secretary Norton responded that she could not withdraw the proposal because DOI had submitted the proposal in good faith to the court in the Cobell litigation. Rather, she suggested, they needed to work on the finer details on how the proposed reorganization would be executed. Tribal leaders strongly suggested that the proposed reorganization be limited to the scope of the Cobell litigation, i.e., the management of the IIM accounts. One tribal strategy offered and apparently taken into serious consideration by DOI is the creation of a Tribal Leaders Task Force. Some tribal leaders opposed the suggestion and worry that the DOI will extend themselves in a token gesture to appease some interests, minimize the massive opposition, and then argue that they have genuinely consulted with Indian tribes according to the tribes’ wishes. Those tribal leaders observed that such task forces in the past have not had any beneficial impact on Indian Country. Despite those observations a proposal to organize a task force with one tribal representative from each BIA region is under serious consideration. The January 17th consultation affords you an opportunity to provide oral comments. You may wish to submit written comments, regardless of whether you provide oral testimony at any of the consultations. We encourage you to submit written comments to the Office of the Secretary, Attn: Office of the Executive Secretariat, 1849 C Street NW, MS7229-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240. Written comments must be received by February 15, 2002. Unfortunately, the consultation we attended was more like a listening meeting and indeed tribal leaders at other sessions have protested DOI calling these sessions consultations. In Albuquerque Secretary Norton was not ready to respond to suggestions other than to express an opinion if something sounded like a good idea. She needed to take the suggestions under consideration but stated she wanted to collect tribal input from all seven consultations before making any decisions. Interior Consultation in
California We encourage all California tribes to contact the BIA to make arrangements for the BIA to pay for one of your tribal representatives to attend the consultation. Also, the DOI had reserved a block of rooms at a special rate for the Albuquerque consultation and may have done the same for San Diego. We therefore encourage you to contact the Red Lion Hanalei Hotel as soon as possible if you anticipate needing overnight accommodations. If any CILS clients would like to meet with CILS representatives that will be attending the San Diego meetings while in San Diego for assistance on submitting written testimony, or for any other reasons, you may contact your local CILS office or leave a message for Lisa Oshiro at (202) 589-1860 or Michael Pfeffer at (510) 835-0284 ext 307 Following the conclusion of the consultations in Washington, D.C., on February 1, 2002, the House Resources Committee will hold a hearing on February 6, 2002. Written testimony may be submitted to the House Resources Committee and is normally required two days in advance. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is also expected to schedule an oversight hearing. Again, the final deadline for written comments to DOI is Friday, February 15, 2002. Your comments must be received in D.C. by then. Related Information:Information on the Department of the Interior’s Trust Management Reform and the EDS reports leading to the Department’s proposal are available at http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust (opens new window). An unofficial transcript of the Albuquerque consultation prepared by NCAI is available from their website at http://www.ncai.org (opens new window). DocumentsAlert (PDF - opens new window) |