Podcast

DEPT OF INTERIOR

Moderator: Frank Quimby

November 28, 2011

11:00 am CT

Coordinator:          Welcome and thank you for standing by. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. During the question and answer session, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections you may disconnect at this time. I'll now turn today's meeting over to Frank Quimby. You may now begin sir.

Frank Quimby:      Welcome to Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar's media teleconference on federal surface leasing regulations for American Indian lands. Joining the Secretary today are Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Larry Echo Hawk and his senior policy advisor, Bryan Newland.

                             There will be an opportunity for questions from the media following opening remarks. Secretary Salazar will begin today's news conference with a statement.

Ken Salazar:          Thank you Frank and good morning to all of you. For three years, President Obama, Assistant Secretary, Larry Echo Hawk and our entire team at the White House and the Department of Interior have worked tirelessly to chart a new history between the United States and the nation's first Americans.

                             We made historic progress on matters relating to water rights, law enforcement, tribal trust lands, the resolution of the (corbaka) and we continue that march.

                             This Friday, President Obama and the Department of Interior will host the leaders from Indian country from throughout the nation at the Department of Interior for what will be our third tribal conference.

                             And today we're proud to announce a major reform that has been 50 years in the making on how we lease properties that are owned by the Department of the Interior in trust for Native Americans across the nation.

                             So today marks the beginning of an important week for the President and the Administration and our ongoing efforts to strengthen our nation to nation relationship with Indian tribes across the United States.

                             Today as we move forward with respect to this announcement, we want to carry out our trust responsibilities in a different way then the United States has dealt with those trust responsibilities in the past. The Department holds more then 56 million acres of land in trust for tribes and individual Indians across the U.S.

                             Those lands serve as the homelands for millions of American Indians. It is where they live. It is where they work. It is where they receive an education and where they grow their economy.

                             President Obama's view from the beginning has been one that supports a concept of tribal self-determination where tribes and individual Indians exercise greater control over their own lands. Today I'm pleased to announce a very critical step in these efforts.

                             Interior is proposing sweeping reforms to the rules that govern surface leasing on Indian land. The action marks the most comprehensive reform to leasing in over 50 years and will make it easier for individuals to do fundamental things like buy a home or build a business.

                             Existing leasing regulations that have been used up until today were established in 1955 and are, frankly, outdated and unworkable in today's economy. Under existing regulations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs can take as long as it wants to review and approve leases on tribal land.

                             In fact, the BIA isn't even required - it is not even required to acknowledge that it has received the lease in the first place. I know of (accounts) in which families have waited several years for the federal government to approve a simple mortgage application.

                             These are families with good paying jobs on solid financial footing that are left waiting to achieve homeownership. This is simply unacceptable. Additionally, the BIA currently has broad discretion to approve or disapprove leases and sublease applications.

                             And to substitute its own judgment for that of tribal governments who know best what works for their land and for their community. Finally the existing regulations require the BIA to review all leases that are not for agricultural purposes under the same process.

                             Under this one size fits all standard, the BIA treats a lease (for) a single family home the same as it does a lease for a large manufacturing facility for a wind farm. The new regulation that we are proposing today will fundamentally change the way that BIA does business and in many ways it does so by minimizing BIA's role in the leasing equation and restoring greater control to tribal governments.

                             The new regulation introduces a streamlined common sense structure and to the review process with strict timeframe for the BIA to approve certain types of leases. If they fail to turn a lease around within the deadline, the lease is automatically approved.

                             In places where it doesn't make sense for the BIA to be involved, such as for example, improving a permit for a parade, the regulations remove that requirement all together. And the regulations established separate tailored processes for residential, commercial and (renewable) energy leases so it's no longer a case where leases fall into overly broad categories of agricultural and everything else.

                             It's hard to overstate what these reforms could mean for Indian country. And their - the new expedited process getting approved for a home will no longer be an unnecessarily arduous process. Getting a lease for a business will take months, not years.

                             And on tribal lands where there's great potential for solar and wind projects to power communities, leases for renewable energy will have a defined process through which they will get approved. In short, these reforms are about making government work better so we can help them lock economic potential and strengthen tribal economies and communities.

                             I'm excited about these tribal changes and these historic changes. I'm proud that they've been developed in close consultation with tribal leaders. I want to acknowledge the great work that Bryan Newland, the senior policy advisor to Larry Echo Hawk, who has helped lead these efforts along with the entire team in Larry Echo Hawk's shop as well as our colleagues who are working with us in the White House.

                             Now I want to turn it over to my good friend, Larry Echo Hawk, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, to go into some more detail about these new rules. And as I turn it over to Larry, I just want to make this comment about him.

                             (One) thinks about his own roots as a (Poni), as a Native American, as a leader in Indian Country, his service as Attorney General for the State of Idaho for many years, and his great work as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, we at the department have been very fortunate to have Larry at the helm of Indian Affairs now for the last three years. With that, I will turn it over to Larry Echo Hawk.

Larry Echo Hawk:Thank you Mr. Secretary. The Secretary noted the historic nature of this reform in his opening comments. Our existing regulations governing leasing on Indian lands had been in place for nearly 50 years. They make it difficult for tribes and Indian land owners to achieve many of the things they need to do in order to grow local economies today.

                             Throughout this process I have heard too many stories about delays in the leasing process. In today's economy, banks and business partners simply cannot wait that long to move a project forward.

                             These types of delays have proven to be a significant obstacle to homeownership and economic development on tribal lands. Under the regulations we have proposed today, the Bureau of Indian Affairs will have up to 30 days to review a residential lease or mortgage.

                             The BIA will have up to 60 days to review a lease for business development or wind and solar energy development. If we need more time to review all of the documents such as for complex business lease, the BIA will work with the parties on a short extension of time to complete its work.

                             These timelines are enforceable. For amendments to existing leases, as well as subleases, the BIA will have the same timeframes to conduct its review. If we do not complete our review of amendments and subleases in those timeframes, they will automatically go into effect.

                             The existing regulations require the BIA to approve permits for short term activities on Indian lands such as for a business expo, a fair or a lemonade stand. Under the proposed regulations, the BIA will no longer have to review and approve such permits.

                             Our existing regulations require the BIA to heavily scrutinize tribal decisions in terms of how much rent they will charge for leases and the purposes of such leases and to give the BIA broad discretion on whether to approve or disapprove such leases.

                             The regulations we have proposed today will dramatically reduce the BIA interference in tribal land use by limiting our discretion to disapprove leases or deferring to tribal governments on how much rent they want to charge.

                             So we're restoring the agency on these important decisions back where it belongs with the tribes. It is important to note that these regulations were developed with the help and input of those whom they will affect most - the tribes.

                             During a consultation period in March and April, we hosted three meetings with tribal leaders and received approximately 2300 comments. Today's announcement certainly reflects the benefits of those comments.

                             Tomorrow will start the beginning of a 60 day comment period and we will be conducting another series of tribal consultation sessions. We hope to review all these comments and publish a final rule in the Federal Register in the spring or summer of 2012.

                             The Secretary is right when he says that we are excited about these changes. The regulations we have proposed today will go a long way toward accomplishing our twin objectives of promoting economic growth and job creation in tribal communities and changing the way we carry out our responsibilities to Indian lands in a manner that shows greater respect for tribal self-determination. Thank you.

Frank Quimby:      Operator, we're ready for questions.

Coordinator:          Thank you. Once again, to ask a question, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone. Please state your name and your affiliation. One moment for our first question. First question comes from (Nick Guiliano) from (Platts). Go ahead.

(Nick Guiliano):     Yes hi. Thanks for doing the call today. Wanted to know if the BIA or the Interior Department, if you guys have any goals that you've sort of set out for, you know, how much renewable development on reservations you'd like to see under these new - you know, do you have we want, you know, X number of megawatts by 2015 or 2020, something along those lines.

Ken Salazar:          (Nick), thanks for the question. I'm going to have Larry answer the specifics, but let me just say this, that we have been working with tribes to identify renewable energy projects on tribal lands and have set up a renewable energy strike team that has focused in on tribal land renewable energy projects and there are several, including one that we expect to be able to permit within this next year.

                             So we believe that there's very significant renewable energy potential on tribal lands, including many of the tribal lands in the Southwest for solar, in the high plains for wind. And we've set up a strike team to work on some specific projects that we are currently considering.

                             I don't know - Larry, why don't you ask- answer (Nick)'s question if you have any additional information, with respect to any specific numbers. I don't know that we have specific numbers but Larry, do you have any additional information on that?

Larry Echo Hawk: Thank you Mr. Secretary and thank you for the question (Nick). What I would say is that economic development and jobs are one of the top three priorities of the Obama Administration. And renewable energy is certainly a part of what we're trying to push.

                             There is demand out there and what we're trying to do is make it easier to be able to develop the resources that tribes have. We don't have any specific goal in this but we think that the kind of regulations that we're proposing today will go a long way toward streamlining the economic development that we need and specifically in renewable energy areas.

(Nick Guiliano):     Great. Thank you.

Frank Quimby:      Next question.

Coordinator:          Our next question comes from (Robert Caprisioso) with the Indian Country Today. Go ahead sir.

(Robert Caprisioso):    Hi. Thanks for taking my question. My question is why should Native Americans be confident that the Department of the Interior, which for so long mismanaged Indian trusts, will be able to properly carry out this new reform effort?

Ken Salazar:          (Robert), let me answer in general terms and then have Larry amplify additional comment. You know, we have worked very hard for three years to change the relationship between the United States and the nation's first Americans.

                             You know, we started the White House tribal conferences. This is going to be the third one. We've resolved cases like the (Crow) Indian Water Rights cases, the (Pueblo) Water Rights Cases, the Navajo Water Pipeline, (Cobel), and the list just goes on and on.

                             And one of the (comendments) that President Obama made back in 2008, and when he asked me to become Secretary of Interior, was that we would change in a very complete way the relationship between the United States and Indian country. And we have done that.

                             We also acknowledge the fact that you can (join) history in a very short period of time. We've had four centuries of neglect and persecution and oppression of the nation's first Americans.

                             The President and I and Larry Echo Hawk have vowed that we're going to change that. And I think that our deeds over the last three years speak to themselves in terms of the kinds of reform efforts that we have undertaken. Larry.

Larry Echo Hawk: Mr. Secretary and (Bob), thank you for the question. You know, in times past, a lot of federal laws and particularly regulations just exhibited a paternalistic type attitude of the federal government towards native leaders and communities.

                             And what you're seeing in these regulations is that we're no longer trying to exercise federal authority but in consultation with tribal leaders, we've come up with a plan here to transfer much of the decision making that occurs to let tribal leaders be able to make the calls about how to develop their lands and resources and have the federal government play a lesser role.

                             So that's what this Administration is all about and I think it's applauded by tribal leaders that we're moving in that direction.

(Robert Caprisioso):    Thank you.

Frank Quimby:      Next question.

Coordinator:          Our next question comes from (Susan Gimbel) of the AP. Go ahead with your question.

(Susan Gimbel):     I was just wondering with - as - does this only apply to renewable energy projects in terms of making development easier? Or their - I realize that it doesn't apply to oil and gas, mining, but I'm not sure about other - maybe like a coal project or something like that. And I was also wondering what effect, if any, this has on any kind of environmental regulations that might need to be met - EIS or anything like that.

Ken Salazar:          The proposed regulation would address residential business, wind and solar energy leasing and in terms of environmental regulations, there will still be compliance with environmental regulations. Let me have Bryan Newland, who's been the architect of the (rule), respond to the questions as well. Bryan.

Bryan Newland:     Thank you Mr. Secretary. Thank you (Susan). The new regulations apply to surface activities only on Indian land so they're not going to apply to oil and gas or coal development or any mineral development.

                             And as far as the environmental regulations are concerned, the Secretary is right. The BIA action to review and approve a lease is still considered a significant federal action subject to I think most, if not all, federal environmental laws including NEPA.

(Susan Gimbel):     But does that - does it change the timing then since you have this 60 day, say for industry?

Bryan Newland:     It changes the timing once all of the work is completed and the lease application is submitted to the bureau.

(Susan Gimbel):     Gotcha.

Bryan Newland:     So once the BIA receives a package, it will have these enforceable timelines to review all of these documents.

(Susan Gimbel):     Gotcha. Great. Thank you.

Coordinator:          Thank you. Then our last question is from (Alex Gilian) with (Politico). Go ahead sir.

(Alex Gilian):         Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to clarify first that the renewable energy projects that are addressed by this, you mentioned residential projects. Does it apply also to commercial or utility level projects? And what was the former timeline for the approval on such projects?

Ken Salazar:          (Alex), thank you for the question. It does apply to large scale renewable energy projects and so the projects that we are working on which are specific renewable energy projects on tribal lands will go through this expedited process. So it does apply - you know, we've done in - on non-tribal lands, on interior lands, at this point we have approved 20 large scale solar, wind and geothermal projects and have a number of them that are scheduled for 2011 as well as 2012.

                             We are teeing up similar kinds of projects in Indian country and those projects will go through this expedited rule process. In the past, (Alex), what happened is applications simply were submitted and many times they would (distinguish) because there were no deadlines.

                             I think that the great import of this rule is that it will require the government to act. The government won't be able to just sit on its hands as it often has done with respect to actions relating to Indian country for a very long time.

(Larry Gilian):        Thank you.

Ken Salazar:          I want to just thank again everybody for being on this call today and again, I want to sing out my praise to the Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk, to the entire team in his office and the BIA as well as the White House who has worked very hard with us as we've worked on so many matters relating to Indian county.

                             This is a very important week for us at Interior because today we start out with this announcement on leasing reform and we will culminate with a number of meetings throughout the week but culminate on Friday with President Obama's address to the leaders from throughout the United States and Alaska who are interested and have been working with us in partnership on many of these issues. Thank you all for being on the call.

Coordinator:          Thank you. That concludes our call for today.

END