Office of the Secretary |
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202-208-6416
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Interior Seeks Reversal of March 15
Injunction which has Disconnected DOI Agencies from Internet
·
Minerals
Management Service informs 36 state governors
electronic minerals royalty payments totaling $89.6 million will be disrupted
by disconnection.
·
K-12 and post-secondary
Indian schools remain isolated from e-mail and
web access in compliance with Federal Court injunction.
(
Secretary Norton told the
Court that the harm caused by the implementation of the injunction will be
“severe and widespread” and that DOI is “still in the process of discovering
how far-reaching the injury to our programs and the public will be.” She says DOI has taken comprehensive steps to
improve IT security within the Department.
“Interior has invested
substantial time, effort and funding in improving our information technology
security,” Secretary Norton told the Court.
“It is a responsibility we take seriously.”
Today, Minerals Management
Service (MMS) Director R.M. “Johnnie” Burton issued a letter to 36 state
governors informing them that the Internet disconnection would forestall the
processing and distribution of monthly Federal mineral payments until such time
as electronic systems are restored. A
total of $89,602,890 was disbursed to states in February. In 2003, a total of more than $1 billion was
disbursed to 36 states through the electronic systems. The disconnection will have similar impacts
of delaying royalty payments to Indian tribes, individual Indian allottees and
other parties.
The Internet disconnection
also impacts some 50,000 students at the 184 elementary and secondary day and
boarding schools funded by the Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. The K-12 system operates on 63 Indian
reservations in 23 states. Students at two
BIA-funded post-secondary schools have also been disconnected from the Internet. BIA provides funding to
“More than ever before, these
young people depend on the Internet as a vital educational resource,” Secretary
Norton said today. “In many libraries,
the web has all but replaced the encyclopedia volumes that we were familiar
with in our school days. We are working
closely with the Department of Justice to obtain an emergency stay of this
injunction, which is clearly creating indiscriminate consequences across the
nation.”
The preliminary injunction of
the U.S. District Court in
While the majority of the
Department’s 110,000 computers were ordered disconnected last week, only 6-percent
of DOI computers – or about 6,600 – have access to personal Indian trust data. Last Monday, the day the injunction was issued, DOI estimates that only 1,100 of those 6,600 were
connected to the Internet.
[Editor’s Note: A copy of the motion for
an emergency stay, with the complete declarations of Interior Secretary Norton
and DOI Chief Information Officer W. Hord Tipton are
available on the
A table of total MMS minerals royalty
disbursements to states for 2003 and February disbursements is attached.]
-DOI-
Minerals Royalty Disbursements by State Minerals Management Service |
|||
2004 State disbursements |
2003 State disbursements |
||
|
$ 933,881 |
|
$14,601,401 |
|
882,023 |
|
$13,126,183 |
|
45,546 |
|
$128,474 |
|
270,449 |
|
$4,379,518 |
|
5,355,643 |
|
$25,336,757 |
|
5,291,916 |
|
$62,703,158 |
|
80,307 |
|
$387,298 |
|
12,601 |
|
$54 |
|
4,276 |
|
$1,880,786 |
|
3,948 |
|
$100,822 |
|
1,795,935 |
|
$6,438 |
|
33,992 |
|
$1,928,091 |
|
101,405 |
|
$55,782 |
|
270 |
|
$31,561,211 |
|
2,547,445 |
|
$425,844 |
|
3,534 |
|
$17,427 |
|
72 |
|
$1,231,716 |
|
27,004,879 |
|
$169,832 |
|
650,247 |
|
$26,906,699 |
|
34,902 |
|
$15,125 |
|
160,104 |
|
$5,015,687 |
|
2,246 |
|
$318,768,793 |
|
3,978 |
|
$118 |
|
34,986 |
|
$5,139,095 |
|
1,298,956 |
|
$301,952 |
|
3,924,919 |
|
$3,541,950 |
|
5,842 |
|
$30,608 |
|
9,001 |
|
$22,312 |
|
39,109,587 |
|
$20,602 |
Total |
$89,602,890 |
|
$413,977 |
|
|
|
$19,069,085 |
|
|
|
$54,443,508 |
|
|
|
$2,099 |
|
|
|
$815,708 |
|
|
|
$379,821 |
|
|
|
$503,771,957 |
|
|
Total |
$1,096,699,888 |