American Indian Country

In an exclusive interview with the Indian Country Today Media Network, Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Alaska) talks about the past year in Congress as well as his plans for 2012 and beyond. 

Akaka, who announced early this that he would be retiring at the end of this Congress, said that his two primary legislative goals for his last year in Congress include passing the the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act as well as Carcieri Fix legislation.

With regards to Carcieri, Akaka said:

Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community faces potential Carcieri-related issues as it seeks to place into trust 23 acres of farmland. According to the Shakopee Valley News, the Prior Lake City Council is considering whether it should weigh in with the federal government is support of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community's application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs:

On one hand, some question the tribe's need for additional trust land, with nearly half of the more than 2,500 acres of tribal land now in federal trust. But other local officials, including some members of the Prior Lake City Council, also worry about disrupting their positive working relationships with the tribe.

In a February 2009 Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, the Court considered whether the federal government has the ability to take land into trust for American Indian tribes recognized after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA).

In today's Federal Register, the Department of the Interior's Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) published a 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.

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.

According to the Department of Interior, the Committee will likely hold its first meeting in February 2012.

You can download the Federal Register Notice here.

On November 29, 2011, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) proposed to revise federal regulations addressing non-agricultural leasing of Indian land. The proposed rule would add new subparts to address residential leases, business leases, wind resource evaluation and development leases, and solar resource development leases on Indian land, and would therefore remove the existing subpart for non-agricultural leases. A preliminary draft of the proposed changes were published earlier this year and is available for download here.

According to a press release, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced $1,483,632 in grants to assist American Indian tribes, Alaska native villages, and museums with implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Of this amount, $1,422,515 is going to 19 recipients for consultation/documentation projects, and $61,117 is going to five repatriation projects.

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify American Indian human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with culturally affiliated tribes, Alaska native villages and corporations, and native Hawaiian organizations regarding repatriation.

Read the Interior Department release here.

In today's Federal Register, the Department of Interior published a final rule implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) by adding procedures for the disposition of culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains in the possession or control of museums or Federal agencies.

The rule also amends sections related to purpose and applicability of the regulations, definitions, inventories of human remains and related funerary objects, civil penalties, and limitations and remedies. You can download the rule by following this link.