U.S. Department of the Interior Home Page

EMPOWERING NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

Senator Byron Dorgan, Secretary Salazar, and Marcus Levings, Chairman Three Affiliated Tribes Business Council. Secretary Salazar travelled to North Dakota to meet with leaders of the Three Affiliated Tribes at Fort Berthold. [Photo Credit: Tami A. Heilemann DOI] Hi-Res

President Obama has placed a high priority on restoring the nation-to-nation relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. Secretary Salazar is committed to helping American Indian and Alaska Native communities prosper, expanding opportunities for young people, strengthening law enforcement, and helping these communities develop renewable energy resources on their lands.

Creating Jobs in Native American Communities through the Economic Recovery Act

Under President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department’s Indian Affairs programs will be investing $500 million in tribal communities across the country. These investments will go toward replacing and upgrading Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools, benefitting many of the 48,000 students who are educated in the BIE school system. Recovery Act projects will provide access for the disabled, replace inefficient heating and cooling systems, and create a better learning environment.

In addition, the Indian Affairs’ Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) will guarantee approximately $130 million in private business development loans to spur tribal economies where unemployment far exceeds the national average. IEED will initiate several on-the-job training efforts in the construction trades to train tribal members to become certified plumbers and pipefitters. The initiative will be done in partnership with the Council on Tribal Employment Rights and the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust. IEED also will expand a pilot project in partnership with the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters.

Signing and Implementing Major Indian Water Rights Settlements

On March 30, the President signed the Public Lands Management Act of 2009 which included two American Indian Water Rights settlements. The Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Project Act authorizes the settlement of the longtime water rights claims of the Navajo Nation in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. The construction and operation of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, a water system that will service the eastern portion of the Navajo Nation, the City of Gallup, New Mexico and the Jicarilla Apache Nation, will provide clean, reliable drinking water to about one quarter of a million people.

The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement, reached after over a decade of negotiations, resolves the Tribes’ surface and ground water claims in Nevada and also establishes two trust funds to enable the Tribes to put their water to use. The rehabilitation and expansion of the Duck Valley Indian Irrigation Project will restore fish and wildlife habitat on the Reservation, and the trust funds created will sustain and enhance the struggling Reservation economy.

Initial funding for both of these settlements will be included in the President’s FY 2010 budget and the Secretary directed the appointment of Departmental implementation teams for both of these settlements so that the work to finalize them can begin immediately. These actions strongly signal the importance of Indian Water Rights Settlements to the Obama Administration.

Working with Tribes on a Government to Government Basis to Address the Supreme Court’s Carcieri Decision

Over the next several months, the Department will undertake formal consultation, on a government-to-government basis, with federally-recognized Indian tribes nationwide to discuss potential approaches to address the Supreme Court’s decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. In that case the Court held that the Secretary of the Interior did not have the authority to take land into trust for tribes that were not “under federal jurisdiction” in 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act was enacted. The Secretary's authority to take lands into trust for current federally-recognized Indian Tribes is critical, and these government-to-government discussions will provide insight and input from Tribes as to ways the Department may address the decision and ensure this authority is protected.

Promoting the Development of Renewable Energy in Indian Country

As part of his pledge to work in partnership with American Indian communities to advance sustainable economic development on tribal lands, Secretary Salazar has made it a Departmental priority to explore the potential for wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass energy production on federal Indian lands. These lands have major renewable energy potential and the development of these resources offers one of the greatest opportunities for sustainable economic development for tribes. It is also a priority to involve tribes in determining the sites for developing the transmission capacity that will deliver these renewable resources. The development of renewable energy and associated transmission projects could generate thousands of sustainable jobs for these tribal communities.

Working with Congress to Prioritize Issues of Concern to Native American Communities

On March 17, Secretary Salazar appeared before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee – his first congressional testimony since his confirmation – to testify on his priorities on issues of concern to American Indian and Native Alaska communities. Secretary Salazar pledged to work with Chairman Dorgan and other members of Congress to help strengthen law enforcement on tribal lands, to help tribes cut through the red tape of the energy permitting process, and work to on resolving outstanding Indian trust issues.