'Forgotten People' Slam Bennett Freeze Redevelopment Plan - 'Web Of Life' Serves Native Youth

"ONHIR Is The Fox Guarding The Hen House"
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick picked the “worst agency” to oversee redevelopment activities in the former Bennett Freeze area when she proposed assigning those duties to the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, according to the Forgotten People.

Kirkpatrick, D-1st District, Arizona, recently sent draft legislation to tribal leaders and local officials asking for their comments by Sept. 29 on a “Former Bennett Freeze Area Redevelopment Act.” Comments from former Bennett Freeze residents apparently were not solicited and the draft was not posted to Kirkpatrick's Web site.

“ONHIR is the fox guarding the hen house,” Don Yellowman, president of the Forgotten People, said. The group is comprised of relocatees and former Bennett Freeze residents who were prohibited from building new homes or making repairs to existing homes for more than 40 years as a result of federal policy imposed due to a land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi tribes.

“ONHIR is in the business of relocating people, not rehabilitation. Many of our members have been waiting for 30 years to receive relocation housing while people that never lived on Hopi Partitioned Land benefited,” Yellowman said. “While ONHIR says they have no money to repair relocation housing and build new housing, apparently they have millions of dollars to loan the Navajo Nation to construct casinos and develop more cluster housing without any infrastructure to host communities.”

Kirkpatrick's draft bill would allow the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe to contract redevelopment activities from the relocation office through Public Law 93-638.

“The additional promise that '638' programs could be contracted from the office is not a meaningful one for the people of the Bennett Freeze, who have not seen any benefit from existing 638 or Housing and Urban Development programs,” James W. Zion of Albuquerque, attorney for the Forgotten People, said.

“The Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation is the coyote that has been stealing and killing our sheep,” said Robert Begay, a member of the Forgotten People board of directors. “To put ONHIR in charge of rehabilitation is like inviting the coyote to take charge. No matter what you do to that coyote he will steal and kill our sheep. That is his instinct. There is no honesty with that coyote.”

Begay said what they need in the former Bennett Freeze area is development planners to work with the people and grassroots groups such as Forgotten People to develop a holistic plan, rather than a Band-Aid approach.

“A past study of a proposed plan for rehabilitating the Bennett Freeze was announced with a great deal of fanfare, and the thick study has never been adopted, much less acted on,” Zion said. “My requests for a copy from the CEO of the Navajo Housing Authority were ignored.”

Navajo Nation Design and Engineering Service and planning consultants from WHPacific Inc., began conducting workshops in 2008 in the nine chapters impacted by the freeze and came up with a regional recovery plan. In 2009, Zion filed notice of intent to sue the Navajo Nation for public disclosure of the nearly $1 million “Former Bennett Freeze Area Recovery Plan.”

Kirkpatrick's draft legislation would establish a “Former Bennett Freeze Area Rehabilitation Trust Fund” to be used solely for purposes which would contribute to the continuing rehabilitation and improvement of conditions for impacted families and communities through 2025. Upon receipt and approval of a plan to use the funds, they would be transferred to the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office or its designee.

On Aug. 4, the Forgotten People filed an accounting lawsuit against the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission to find out where monies from the current Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Trust Fund are, as well as collected fees for easements and rights of way. While the suit is pending, Forgotten People want an injunction on all 638 and HUD contracts and all land purchases by the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission.

Kirkpatrick's plan additionally would authorize the Navajo Nation to negotiate and approve an accommodation agreement with the Hopi Tribe for Navajo families still residing on Hopi Partitioned Land who intend to remain. “The proposed Act would do some tinkering with accommodation agreements with Navajo families without mentioning the due process implications of impairing existing contracts. The Hopi Tribe might have something to say about that,” Zion said.

Marsha Monestersky, program director for Forgotten People, said the organization also wants the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Commission on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to intervene and assess health impacts.

“Too many people in the former Bennett Freeze have died from living in substandard housing, drinking uranium- and arsenic-contaminated water and living in and around abandoned uranium mines and mills,” she said.

New Mexico Non-Profit To Increase Outreach To Native Youth
Albuquerque, NM - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that $155 million in teen pregnancy prevention grants are being awarded to states, non-profit organizations, school districts, universities, and others.

These grants will support the replication of teen pregnancy prevention programs that have been shown to be effective through rigorous research as well as the testing of new, innovative approaches to combating teen pregnancy.

McClellan Hall, Executive Director and founder of the National Indian Youth Leadership Project, was notified that NIYLP's application for "Web of Life", an adaptation of Project Venture, has been awarded approximately $2.75 million over 5 years.

Congratulations From Senator Udall
Yesterday afternoon Senator Tom Udall's office contacted NIYLP to express congratulations and support conveying that Udall believes NIYLP's programming is important to prevention in New Mexico.

Learn more...

Nest Steps - Following a six-month planning period, NIYLP will be implementing the "Web of Life" in several communities, schools and agencies serving Native American youth.

"Teen pregnancy is a serious national problem and we need to use the best science of what works to address it," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "This investment will help bring evidence-based initiatives to more communities across the country while also testing new approaches so we can expand our toolkit of effective interventions."

The "Web of Life" is an adaptation of Project Venture, the first Native American, evidence-based program to be included on the National Registry of Evidence-basded Programs and Practices list (NREPP)

More About Project Venture - National Indian Youth Leadership Project
NIYLP is a non-profit organization started in Gallup, NM over 25 years ago. NIYLP uses a combination of service-learning, outdoor education, experiential education and culture and tradition to empower generations of youth to realize a more positive future.
Website: http://www.niylp,org/

National Indian Youth Leadership Project
Beth Wonson
Director of Operations
email: info@niylp.org
phone: 505-554-2289

National Indian Youth Leadership Project
McClellan Hall
Executive Director and Founder
email: info@niylp.org
phone: 505-554-2289

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Native Unity Digest stories are now appearing on the BeforeIt'sNews.com site under the Native American News category. Check them out!!!!

Legislation For Navajo Nation And Veterans Submitted By U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick

Legislation Drafted To Redevelop Bennett Freeze Area
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick has sent draft legislation to tribal and local officials which she says would give them the authority and resources they need to redevelop the former Bennett Freeze area.

“Congress sat idly by for years while Native American families paid the price for the federal government’s failed policies. I will not let the Navajo and Hopi nations be ignored again,” said Kirkpatrick, D-1st District, Arizona.

U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert Bennett imposed the Bennett Freeze on July 8, 1966, as the result of a longstanding dispute over Navajo and Hopi reservation boundaries. The former freeze area consists of nine Navajo Nation chapters in Western Navajo Agency and encompasses 3 million acres.

More than 12,000 Navajos living in the area were subjected to a 41-year freeze on development, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They suffered socially, economically, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually as a result of being prohibited from building new homes, making repairs, constructing infrastructure for water and electricity, and developing roads. The freeze was lifted officially last year.

Kirkpatrick's proposed “Former Bennett Freeze Area Redevelopment Act” calls for establishing the Former Bennett Freeze Trust Fund which would be used to improve economic conditions, housing, infrastructure, health, and educational and social conditions of affected families and communities.

The bill also enables the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe to take on the work of the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation through contracting, and authorizes the office to oversee a rehabilitation program for the former Bennett Freeze area.

The bill would extend the authorization of the Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund and repeal the obligation of the Navajo Nation to repay money advanced to the trust fund. It also would authorize the Navajo Nation to negotiate and approve an accommodation agreement with the Hopi Tribe for Navajo families still residing on Hopi Partitioned Land who intend to remain there.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said it was 17 months ago that Congress officially repealed “this dark chapter” in the Nation's relationship with the federal government.

“Thanks to the efforts of our Navajo Hopi Land Commission and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, the promise of this legislation is another great day for my elderly, my medicine people, my young, and my grandchildren who have been affected by the Bennett Freeze for more than 40 years,” he said.

Attorney James W. Zion of Albuquerque, who filed suit in August on behalf of the Forgotten People seeking an accounting of Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund monies, wasn't quite so enthusiastic.

“The draft is a disappointment,” Zion said Wednesday. “First, it is authorization legislation, not required by the Constitution, and all it would do is set up a new trust to be funded from sources that are not likely, and authorize appropriations that will never come.

“It is curious that a new trust fund is being proposed when we don't know what the situation with the current one happens to be,” he said. “Navajos should not be given false promises of 'authorization' legislation unless the means to back it up in appropriations are there.”

Meanwhile, the Forgotten People, a grassroots group made up of former Bennett Freeze residents and relocatees, have stopped waiting on the tribe and the federal government to begin rebuilding. Through community-led redevelopment projects in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Home Depot of Flagstaff, they have constructed safe drinking water systems, and with the help of Indian Health Service and EPA, have built bathrooms sanitation systems for nine homes in Black Falls.

Navajo Hopi Land Commission Office Executive Director Roman Bitsuie, who was named in the suit filed by Zion, said there is not enough time this year to see Kirkpatrick's bill through to passage, but he hopes it will be introduced soon and that congressional action will be completed by early 2011. He estimated redevelopment costs at $1 billion to $4.5 billion.

Zion said no real money is identified in the draft legislation. “Set-asides of small percentages from the BIA Indian Programs budget, the Indian Housing Block Grant Program, and Rural Development Program are really an attempted earmark, and the other beneficiaries of such programs will likely block any such measure.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011 includes an increase of $1.2 million to begin redeveloping the former freeze area. The funds would be used to implement rangeland inventories, set stocking rates for grazing permittees, maintain and replace water storage tanks and windmills, and develop stock ponds and springs.

Congress Passes NHA Legislation To Expand Housing Assistance For Native Veterans And Families
Submitted by Christian Bigwater
Navajo Housing Authority

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The United States Senate voted unanimously last night to pass the Navajo Housing Authority’s (NHA) top legislative priority for the 111th Congress, a bill that expands housing opportunities for disabled Native Veterans and family members of deceased servicemen and women.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick introduced the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act of 2010 (HR 3553), last September at the request NHA’s Board of Commissioners. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives on April 20 meaning that last night’s Senate vote sends the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature. The President is expected to sign the bill into federal law within days.

“At first glance this is a very technical bill, but the impact on Veterans and their families will be tremendous,” NHA CEO Aneva J. Yazzie said. “I want to personally thank Congresswoman Kirkpatrick for her leadership on this issue. She really was the driving force behind passing this bill.”

HR 3553 amends the definition of “income” under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, the 1996 statute governing the Indian Housing Block Grant program. By excluding payments from the Veterans Administration for service-related disabilities and survivor benefits from counting as income, more Veterans will qualify for assistance.

“The Navajo Housing Authority and other leaders in the Veterans, tribal, and housing communities have fought long and hard to get this done, and I am honored to have had the chance to stand with them and make their voices heard,” Rep. Kirkpatrick said. “The passage of the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act is a great victory for Indian Country and a critical step in the ongoing struggle to make Washington keep its promises to our military men and women.”

Senate efforts were spearheaded by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator John Thune (R-SD) making it a truly bi-partisan and nation-wide effort.

NHA Board Chairman Leonard Teller, himself a Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corp, shared his praises for Congresswoman Kirkpatrick and her efforts as well as those of other Members of Congress including retiring Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

“Some people complain about how hard it is to get things done in Washington, but complaints are no substitute for leadership. We are very lucky to have Ms. Kirkpatrick working for us in Congress and her ability to get others to rally around this cause was amazing,” Teller said. “Capitol Hill is a tough environment, but as we can see today, sometimes it’s worth a fight to do the right thing.”

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

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'Peabody Coal Plan' To Eliminate Energy Poverty, Inequality - McClellan Hall Named To National Committee

Black Mesa Residents Claim Mine Related Illnesses
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce outlined a multi-step plan Tuesday to eliminate energy poverty and inequality by unlocking the power of coal to advance energy security, generate economic stimulus and create environmental solutions.

Boyce unveiled the “Peabody Plan” during a keynote address before the 21st World Energy Congress in Montreal. The Congress is a gathering of global energy leaders from nearly 100 member nations convened every three years.

Boyce called for creating energy access for all by 2050, noting that there are 3.6 billion people in the world – more than half the global population – who lack adequate energy access.

Many Navajo Nation residents living in the shadow of Peabody's Black Mesa and Kayenta mines still do not have electricity or running water. A number of them spoke out during recent public hearings to oppose Navajo's lease reopener with Peabody.

According to the lease agreement, the 1987 amendments provide for a reopener to negotiate increased royalty rates and royalty-tax caps for each successive 10-year period after 1987. The coal royalty rate for the Kayenta Mine is 12.5 percent, set in 1977, and 6.25 percent for the Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area.

Many Black Mesa residents claim they have asthma and other illnesses they believe are related to the mines. Navajo medicine man Norris Nez in a December 2009 declaration, said, “Peabody's desecration of the land has devastated our ability to heal through ceremony and relocation has denied us new generations of medicine men that would have continued to practice traditional ways.”

Boyce said, “Study after study – and pure common sense – tell us that access to electricity helps people live longer and better. Yet each year, we lose more than 1.5 million people to the effects of energy poverty. We can no longer turn our heads from these brutal statistics. We must put people first. This is the first value.”

The Peabody Plan calls for:
· Working to eliminate energy poverty and propelling global economies by ensuring that at least half of new generation is fueled by coal;
·
· Replacing the 1,000 gigawatts of traditional coal plants with supercritical and ultra-supercritical plants, which are more efficient and carbon capture-ready;
·
· Developing at least 100 major projects around the world that capture, store or use carbon dioxide from coal-based plants within 20 years;
·
· Deploying significant coal-to-gas, coal-to-chemicals, and coal-to-liquids projects around the world over the next 10 years; and
·
· Commercializing and deploying next-generation clean coal technologies to achieve continued environmental improvement and ultimately near-zero emissions.

“Coal is the only sustainable fuel with the scale to meet the primary energy needs of the world's rising populations and economies,” he said. Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, had 2009 sales of 244 million tons and $6 billion in revenues. Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

Mac Hall Named Founding Member To NSSP
Albuquerque, NM

Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., Administrator for SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) appointed National Indian Youth Leadership Project's Executive Director and Founder, McClellan Hall, M.A., as a founding member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention's Executive Committee.

Hall attended the Alliance's formal launch at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on September 10, 2010. The event was hosted by Secretary of Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other senior leaders.

The mission of the "Action Alliance" is to advance the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP) by: -championing suicide prevention as a national priority. -catalyzing efforts to implement high priority objective of NSSP. -cultivating the resources needed to sustain progress.

About NIYLP - NIYLP is the developer of "Project Venture", the first Native American prevention program to be designated a "Model Program" by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and listed on the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. Project Venture is implemented in over 15 schools and agencies in NM and in over 71 sites nationally.

"I am honored to be selected for this important committee. The suicide rate for Native American youth is alarming. I value the goals and work of this committee and utilizing the experience and learnings of NIYLP and our 25 plus year history of working with youth", Hall said.

Learn more...About National Indian Youth Leadership Project
NIYLP

924 Park Ave. Suite A , Albuquerque NM, 87102, 505-554-2389
National Indian Youth Leadership Project
Beth Wonson
Director of Operations
email info@niylp.org
phone: 505-554-2289

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Native Unity Digest stories are now appearing on the BeforeIt'sNews.com site under the Native American News category. Check them out!

New Mexico's Native Vets Tax Settlement Fund - BUT Only in New Mexico

Native American Veterans' Income Tax Settlement Fund Now Accepting Claims -
SANTA FE, NM—The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services (NMDVS), the New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue department and the New Mexico Department of Indian Affairs have teamed up to launch the Native American Veterans’ Income Tax Settlement Fund.

This fund was created by the State of New Mexico to address the issue that state income tax may have been withheld from the paychecks of Native American soldiers while they were on active duty and legally domiciled on tribal land.

Claim forms can be found on the NMDVS website or can be picked up at selected NMDVS field offices. Visit the NMDVS website at http://www.dvs.state.nm.us/. On the home page, click on the Native American Veterans’ Income Tax Settlement link on the left-hand side.

A copy of a separation document (DD-214 or similar document from the Department of Defense) must also be attached to the completed claim form, which can then be sent to the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services.

The NMDVS will then verify if a form is accompanied by the separation document, and then send everything to the Department of Taxation and Revenue for processing and ultimate payment of refunds.

“The state of New Mexico wants to correct something that may need correcting for some of our Native American veterans,” said NMDVS Secretary John Garcia. “We will help any veteran who had any state income tax withheld while they were on active-duty but exempt from this because they were living on tribal land.”

According to the findings by the NMDVS, there may be more than 9,000 Native American veterans who may have had New Mexico income tax withheld from their military pay while they were living on tribal land here in New Mexico. Widows can also apply on behalf of their deceased veteran-spouse.

“The only way we can verify if a veteran did indeed have their military salary taxed by the state of New Mexico is for that Native American veteran or dependent to fill out a claim,” said Secretary Garcia. “If you can’t find your separation papers, we will help you request a duplicate copy. But we can’t help you if you don’t first fill out that claim form.”

Claim forms along with an attached DD-214 or other separation papers can be mailed to:
The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services
Alan Martinez/Deputy Secretary
PO Box 2324
Santa Fe, NM 87504-2324b

Pottawatomi Vet: Soldiers Wrongly Taxed
By JoKAY DOWELL
nativetimes.com

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – While browsing the Internet, Prairie Band Pottawatomi tribal citizen and U.S. Army veteran Richard Adame was surprised to find a news article about New Mexico legislation and subsequent negotiations with American Indian veterans in that state to restore state taxes wrongly deducted from their pay by the Department of Defense.

“This story concerns all Native Americans who ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces. We were unjustly and illegally taxed by our individual states while serving in uniform,” Richard Adame said.

Adame immediately began to search for information on the law and contacted national media outlets, some veteran’s representatives and politicians. Adame said with the exception of Native American Times he was ignored because, he thinks, the law protecting American Indian military pay is virtually unknown by all.

“Two years after I retired, I found out that I and every other Native American who claimed the reservation as our homes were illegally taxed. But, no one seems to know. . . I contacted a few vet reps and they never heard of this. This injustice was not even known to us ground pounders. We were just doing our jobs. How were we supposed to know that we were being illegally taxed?” he said. “I grew up in Kansas on the reservation and joined the Army out of a sense of patriotism and pride in my country. Most of the men and women in my family served in the Armed Forces.

Deduction of state income taxes from the pay of American Indian veterans living on reservation land at the time of their entrance into active duty service was first prohibited by federal law under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940, Section 514, and continued under the newer version of the law, the Service members Civil Relief Act of 2006, section 511e. Other laws and legal opinions uphold the protection of that pay.

But according to language in HR 5275 introduced to the United States 108th Congress in October 2004 by New Mexico Democratic Senator Tom Udall, the DoD withheld state income taxes anyway. HR 5275 intended to restore the pay of all American Indian veterans across the country from whose pay state taxes were wrongly deducted.

“The law is now well established that this policy was wrong and, in keeping with tribal sovereignty, the policy of withholding state taxes on these soldiers’ pay was changed. This position is reflected in administrative opinions, Fatt v. Utah, 884P2d 1233 (Utah 1994), a 2000 Department of Justice opinion, a Department of Defense policy instituted in 2001, and most recently, in Public Law 108-189, a law that passed this House unanimously,” Udall said in his introduction of HR 5275 to the House Armed Services Committee.

While the DoD stopped the improper taxation of those veterans in 2001, the changes did not apply retroactively for veterans whose pay was taxed prior to that year. A statute of limitations could present obstacles as well.

“The result is that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tribal members whose state taxes were improperly withheld during their service to our country are unable to recover the money that is owed to them,” Udall stated.

Sadly, HR 5275 faced immediate death in the 108th HASC for lack of support. Since then, no action has been taken to restore the pay of reservation-based American Indian veterans outside of New Mexico.

Adame has questioned whether restoration of the veterans’ pay might be settled legally with a class action lawsuit but would rather see Congress step up to reintroduce legislation like HR 5275 and bring justice to all American Indian veterans.

“This story concerns all Native Americans who ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces,” he said. “We were unjustly and illegally taxed by our individual states while serving in uniform.”
In Oklahoma, the topic of taxation of American Indians has always been controversial but was settled unanimously by the U.S Supreme Court in the 1993 case, “Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Sac and Fox,” filed by attorney William Rice, associate professor of law and co-director of the Native American Law Center, University of Tulsa College of Law.

“The state lost,” Rice said. “How the veterans’ case would play out is arguable. But obviously Oklahoma has no authority to levy the tax in the first place and the SSCRA should protect them in the second.”

Rice said the Court generally has ruled that the Constitution and federal law place the tribal relationship with the federal government and not states, at least in areas defined as Indian Country, a legal term applying to allotments, tribal lands, reservations and other categories of Indian-owned properties.

Oklahoma Tax Commission law now states active duty pay is exempt when:
“The income is compensation paid to an active member of the Armed Forces of the United States, if the member was residing within his tribe’s “Indian Country” at the time of entering the Armed Forces of the United States, and the member has not elected to abandon such residence.”
Rice thinks there would be even more affected veterans in Oklahoma than in New Mexico.
“I suggest many of them would be residents of Indian Country when they joined up,” he said.
Adame wants his pay and that of all other American Indian veterans restored and is hoping affected veterans will contact tribal, regional and national veterans’ organizations to make them aware of the law. He said veterans should also contact their Congressional representatives to request they reintroduce and support legislation like HR 5275. He also posted online a petition to restore the veterans’ pay..

Adame hopes the new Obama administration will walk its talk as it promised to respect Indian sovereignty and honor tribal nations’ government-to-government relationship.

First Lady Michelle Obama told employees at the Interior Department in February that American Indians have a “wonderful partner in the White House right now,” and her husband plans to improve that relationship even more, according to an Associated Press story.
Adame wants American Indians in political office to help rectify the wrongs against him and other veterans.

“These newly appointed government Native American politicians and advocates must also stand up for us, the cheated veterans.”
JoKay Dowell
Quapaw/Cherokee
http://jokaydowell.blogspot.com/

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Cancer Saga Continues For Uraniuim Cleanup Worker

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: No Benefits For Navajo Uranium Mill Cleanup Workers
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

SHIPROCK – Phillip Lee, a former Navajo Engineering Construction Authority employee who helped clean up radioactive soil at the former Kerr-McGee uranium mill in Shiprock, has just begun his second week of chemotherapy for renal cell carcinoma, diagnosed in August 2009.

Though the disease has spread to his pancreas and his cancer is now in Stage 4, Lee, 51, counts himself lucky. As much as he was dreading chemotherapy, he hasn't had any of the 13 possible side effects associated with the new treatment. He and his doctor see that as a good sign.

“Sutent is a chemo drug but it's a newer type. There are two types that they are giving folks with advanced renal cell carcinoma and he's giving me the one that he thinks will suit me. It's the strongest dose available,” Lee said. He travels to the oncology clinic in Farmington for a 28-day supply.

“It's expensive. It's like $8,006 for 28 pills,” he said, but he and his doctor are hopeful it will stop the cancer from spreading and slowly dissolve the growth on his pancreas.

Lee is just one of an undetermined number of workers who helped clean up radioactive contamination at four uranium mills on the Navajo Nation. He worked from June 1985 to around September 1986, operating a scraper and hauling contaminated fill for disposal at the Shiprock Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action site.

The NECA job with its $500 a week paycheck was like striking it rich to a young Navajo man in his 20s with a family to support. It wasn't until 25 years later when his left kidney was removed due to cancer that Lee began to have questions. Despite his illness, he began what has become a fruitless quest for compensation from federal programs designed to benefit sick uranium workers.

Lee attended a Post-'71 Uranium Workers Committee meeting in June in Gallup, hoping that the 2010 amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act introduced in the U.S. Senate and House by Sen. Tom Udall and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico meant that he finally would qualify for federal aid because the amendments call for compensating uranium workers employed after 1971. The short answer: No. Remediation workers aren't covered under RECA.

Jennifer McCall of the Killian and Davis law firm of Grand Junction, Colo., which has been lobbying Congress for years on behalf of Navajo victims, made some inquiries to the U.S. Department of Labor on Lee's behalf. But as it turns out, he and others who worked on Navajo UMTRA sites also fail to qualify under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

According to the Department of Labor, the Navajo Nation owns the Shiprock site. It was not owned or operated by the Atomic Energy Commission or the Manhattan Engineer District and therefore does not enjoy the same coverage as other mills and ore-buying stations.

The Mexican Hat uranium mill, formerly operated by Atlas Corp., reverted to the Navajo Nation after the lease expired in 1970. The Monument Valley mill closed in 1968 and control of the site revered to the Navajo Nation. The Nation also retains title to the 145-acre former Rare Metals disposal site in Tuba City.

“Because the land parcels where the uranium mills were initially constructed or remediated under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remediation Control Act were owned and operated by private companies rather than by the MED or AEC, they are not covered under EEOICPA,” according to Janet Kapsin of DOL's Office of Workers' Compensation Program.

The Manhattan Engineer District-owned ore-buying stations and facilities such as the Durango, Colo., green sludge uranium plant was MED-owned and its workers are covered. The Moab UMTRA site and its reclamation workers also are covered because after Atlas declared bankruptcy in 1998, the land was transferred to the Department of Energy for cleanup.

When first authored, EEOICPA was intended to dovetail into a program for those workers not compensated by RECA, and to provide monies for DOE contractors affected by the handling of beryllium, Kapsin said. But when the legislation came out of committee and was approved by the president, it changed.

“The law is very concise about property or building ownership and the contract relationship that must be in place with the government to qualify,” she said, and because the mill properties were owned by private companies, the UMTRA workers are not covered.

“RECA only covered the mill workers and ore transporters; no provision was written into that law to compensate remediation workers. Work involved with waste tailings on non-government owned property is not covered by EEOICPA, which is where Shiprock falls because the site is part of the Navajo Nation and the land is not owned by DOE,” she said.

In August 1953, Kerr-McGee Oil Industries Inc., signed a contract with the Atomic Energy Commission for a uranium processing mill to be built at Shiprock. In March 1963, Vanadium Corporation of America purchased the Shiprock mill from Kerr-McGee and continued its operation until August 1967 when VCA was merged into Foote Mineral Co. Foote operated the mill until it was closed in May 1968. Control of the former mill site reverted to the Navajo Nation in 1973 when Foote’s lease for the land expired.

NECA then used about 40 acres of the site, including mill offices and buildings, as a training facility to instruct students to operate and maintain earthmoving heavy equipment. In January 1975, NECA began decontamination activities under an Environmental Protection Agency plan to reduce the radiological exposure to employees and trainees.

Lee said he thought that between the proposed RECA amendments and EEOICPA, he finally would be eligible for compensation, “but now it's just like another step thrown my way. It seems like they would think way into the future about it and have some recourse for us to follow, those of us that do get sick. But now it's just like a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of thing.”

Lee is disheartened that the RECA amendments are being held up in the Judiciary committees of Congress. “I was hoping they would pass it and in November I could get on. With all the cancer going on among the Native people, they just turn a blind eye to it. It's crazy. But the Lord has still got me here, so I guess I got more fighting to do.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

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'Broken Promises': Documentary on Cobell's 25 -Year Fight For Native Justice

Shakopee Mdewakanton Award $50,000 In Grant For Cobell Documentary
By Tessa Lehto
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
Monday. September 20. 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces a grant for $50,000 to support a documentary about the largest class-action lawsuit ever filed against the United States government. Broken Promises: Indian Trust is the story of a 25-year fight for justice led by Blackfeet Nation member Elouise Cobell, who grew up hearing the stories of missing checks and dwindling funds from Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders.

The individual Indian trust accounts held by the U.S. Government relate to land, oil, natural gas, mineral, timber, grazing, water, and other resources and rights on or under individual Indian lands.

SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks commented on the film, “This is an important story to be told. It clearly illustrates the nature of the historic relationship between the federal government and Indian people. We felt it was important to support this project to show our solidarity with our Indian relatives and to help educate the public on a significant part of American history.”

For 118 years the Department of Interior failed to live up to the trust placed in them by engaging in a “shocking pattern of deception,” according to Federal Judge Royce Lamberth who oversaw the case for many years. Billions of dollars belonging to some of the most impoverished people in America remain unaccounted for.

The Film Broken Promises: Indian Trust is a film about the relationship between the United States government and American Indians. This relationship began in 1887 when the United States government broke up Indian reservations, parceled out millions of acres of land to American Indian families, and promised to manage the land.

They established the Indian Trust Fund to oversee the revenues collected from leases of the land. Checks for these revenues were sent out periodically to tribal land holders but an accurate accounting of those funds has never been available.

Fire in the Belly Productions, a privately owned California corporation behind the project, produces independent, feature length documentary films. Producer/director of Broken Promises is Fire in the Belly founder Melinda Janko. High profile supporters of the project include Robert Redford, former Senator Tom Daschle, and the Native American Rights Fund.

Janko wrote, “Throughout my film making career, I have always been attracted to stories about the triumph of the human spirit, and people overcoming the odds. So when I went looking for a story in March 2002, I looked for one that would inspire, make a difference, and maybe even change the way we see the world. What I found was a story that has its roots in the 19th century but still continues today. Some call it the ‘Enron of the U.S. government.’ The truth is --- it is bigger than Enron! This little known story has evolved into Broken Promises: Indian Trust.”

She continued, “During my research and investigation, it was shocking to find that most Americans do not know about the largest class action lawsuit ever brought against the federal government. How can billions of dollars belonging to one of the most impoverished people in America be unaccounted for and not be front page news?”

The CaseOn June 10, 1996, Indian plaintiffs including Elouise P. Cobell, Mildred Cleghorn, Thomas Maulson, and James Louis Larose, filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government for its failure to properly manage Indian trust assets − monies belonging to individual Indians − on behalf of all present and past individual Indian trust beneficiaries, including over 300,000 current IIM account holders. The named defendants are the Secretaries of the Interior and Treasury and the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs.

This matter has been pursued under four specific defendant names, depending upon the individuals heading the Departments of Interior and Treasury in successive presidential administrations from 1996-2010, including Cobell v. Babbitt, Cobell v. Norton, and Cobell v. Kempthorne. The current case is Cobell v. Salazar.

The Plaintiff class challenged the government's longstanding failure to account for individual Indian trust funds. It asserted that the federal government had breached its legally-mandated trust responsibility to prudently manage trust assets belonging to individual Indian trust beneficiaries.

It further claimed the government consistently refused to fix an accounting system that is fundamentally flawed and ineffective in accounting for these assets, with the result that billions of dollars belonging to individual Indians remain unaccounted for.

The Plaintiffs’ two objectives are 1) To require the federal government to create and maintain an adequate system to properly manage and accurately account for the trust assets of individual Indians, going forward and 2) To require the federal government to provide a full and accurate accounting to individual Indian trust beneficiaries, and to restate IIM account balances accordingly.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need.

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Navajo Nation: 'No Uranium Mining Within Our Boundaries'

Udall Addresses Navajo Uranium Issues
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

CHURCHROCK – The Navajo Nation says it doesn't want any uranium mining within its boundaries, and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall respects that, but Udall said he is not going to lie to the Navajo people and tell them there will be no more nuclear plants built in the United States.

Udall, D-N.M., dropped by Churchrock Chapter Friday afternoon at the request of Teddy Nez and the Red Water Pond Road Community Association to explain his views on the U.S. energy policy after receiving a letter from Nez.

Joining Udall were representatives from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Navajo EPA, Indian Health Service, grassroots organizations and a number of candidates seeking election to state and tribal positions in November.

Udall addressed the proposed 2010 amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, the five-year plan to tackle legacy uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation, and the energy future overall.

“I know there is great concern on the Navajo Nation for additional uranium development and what's going to happen there. And this isn't just a Navajo Nation issue,” he said, adding that there are companies around Grants and Gallup that want to also develop uranium. “We have to accept the reality,” he said.

And the reality is that there are 104 nuclear power plants in the United States which run on uranium and nuclear fuel. They supply 20 percent of the country's electric power, and many more nuclear plants are proposed. “We're going to have those plants for awhile because if we took them away tomorrow, we wouldn't be able to replace that type of energy very quickly.

“But I totally respect the position of the Navajo Nation to say, 'We don't want any uranium mining going on, on the Navajo Nation.' I'm going to back the Navajo Nation up on that if that's the position of the Navajo Nation or individual chapters. We want to work with you to make sure that there's fairness in that situation. But I'm not going to come here and represent to you that I can stop nuclear power dead in its tracks,” he said.

Teddy Nez, president of the Red Water Pond Road group, said he had a concern with the federal energy policy. “You're talking about support for the Navajo Nation and chapters, what about the grassroots people, do you support them?”

“Yes, I do support the grassroots people,” Udall said.

Nez also said that U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called for health studies. He wondered whether there were any dollars attached.

Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of Navajo EPA, said that the five federal agencies assigned to the project have been meeting with the federal Office of Management and Budget.

“There is more openness and more receptiveness to work with the agencies as they develop their budgets to put more money in place for these activities.” However, it's tough because the country is in a down economy, still engaged in two wars, and responding to natural disasters in other parts of the United States.

Udall said the most effective way to get the job done is for the federal agencies to get the president to put it in his budget. “The president gets almost everything in his budget,” he said.

Linda Evers of the Post-71 Uranium Workers Committee, who will be calling on members of Congress this week during a trip to Washington to lobby for the proposed RECA amendments of 2010, said they are stuck in the Judiciary Committee.

“What do we need to do to get these moving? I know our survey has shown that we lose 10 workers a year, but if you read the Gallup and Grants obituaries every week, our communities are losing five to 10 people a month. How are we going to get these bills moving?”

Udall said there are two ways to work a bill. “You work it through the House, you work it through the Senate. ... So contacts there are tremendously important,” as is bringing media attention to the issue. He said that he, Etsitty and Navajo Nation Council Delegate Phil Harrison take every press clipping and show Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of Judiciary, that there is a lot of concern and they need to move the amendments along.

“There are not very many things in Washington that are bipartisan right now. We have Republican senators that are on this bill.” He said they are doing everything they can to get a hearing but it probably will be more fruitful after the election.

According to the amendments, uranium workers who worked after 1971 finally would qualify for federal compensation for their illnesses. Funding also is authorized for universities and non-profits to research the impacts of exposure on communities and families of uranium workers.

The amendments would allow for increased use of affidavits for documenting work history; allow work histories to be combined; expand downwind counties to include New Mexico, Idaho, Montana and Colorado; and include the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico for downwind and on-site worker compensation.

“I know there is frustration in the room, and I know people are saying, 'Why does this take so long?' Udall said. “My father started back in the 1970s working on Navajo uranium miner cases ... He fought in the courts and couldn't win anything in the courts even though the courts would say there was incredible injustice.”

It took Stewart Udall 20 years to pass the first RECA law in 1990 and another 10 years before they were able to get it amended.

“You're entering a process which has taken a long time, and I know it's frustrating, but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I'm not giving up until we bring justice to this situation and to ever single individual,” the senator said.

Kathleen Tsosie, who grew up in Cove, told Udall, “Today I am sick. I'm a breast cancer survivor, and now they have found something else in my body. When the doctor tells you, you have cancer, so many things go through your mind. ... Our children, our grandchildren are affected. It runs in the genes now. So please fight for us from the heart.”

Udall told her, “I very much feel strongly what you're saying and it's the reason I've stuck in there on this battle for the last 30 years; and if it takes another 30 years to do it, I'll still be there.”

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Native Owned Business Contracts With Navajo Housing Authority

Tonemah Signs Contract With NHA To Provide Code Inspection Services
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. -– On Sept. 9, representatives from the Gilbert, Ariz. based construction company, Tonemah Construction, were on hand to sign a two year contract that would grant Tonemah the privilege of providing code inspection services to the Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) for all ARRA projects, additional plans and design reviews.

David C. Tonemah (Kiowa tribe), president and principle owner of Tonemah Construction, attended the event which was held in front of the NHA Central Office. Tonemah was joined by two of his Senior Project Managers, Todd Wenger and Jennifer Clack.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Navajo Housing Authority.” Tonemah said. “We are looking forward to bringing quality service to them (NHA) as well.”

Together, the company’s core team has over 235 years of combined experience in code inspection services.

“We believe we are going to bring some added value that they (NHA) are not accustomed to,” added Tonemah.

Aneva J. Yazzie, NHA CEO and Contracting Officer, added that, “NHA’s expectations will be high for Tonemah Construction to do its job to ensure code compliance is achieved by general contractors as NHA will not accept poor quality or noncompliant work.”

Tonemah’s first code inspection assignment will be for the ARRA Arizona furnaces projects.

“We have 200 furnaces that need the code inspections,” said Robert Sandoval senior project manager for NHA’s Planning and Engineering Department. “Tonemah has a full team ready to go.”

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No Money For Navajo Code Talkers Museum

Effort To Fund Code Talkers Museum Hits Snag!
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – It's difficult for the Navajo Nation Council to say no to a request for funding anything having to do with Navajo Code Talkers, but when there's no money, well, bottom line – there's no money.

Several of these World War II-era warriors, assisted by walkers or supported by the arms of young relatives, made their way to the Council chamber Wednesday afternoon to back Delegate Larry Anderson as he offered an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2011 comprehensive budget.

Anderson requested a grant of $5 million from the income of the Veterans Trust Fund for the initial phase of construction of the Navajo Code Talkers Museum and Veterans Center. He had attempted the amendment during Tuesday's opening day of the budget session but later withdrew the motion after confusion arose over the funding source.

“The museum and veterans center will be a multifaceted complex,” Anderson said. “The campus will also provide direct service for veterans that served our country.”

Delegate Lorenzo Bedonie said the matter was discussed at length Wednesday morning at the Chinle Agency caucus. Any set-aside that would be diverted could result in some account going into deficit, he said. “There are risks involved. These are monies that are just projected.”

The projected amount for the Veterans Trust Fund is 4 percent of Fiscal Year 2011 revenue, estimated at $7,885,000.

Delegate Leonard Chee said the amendment also was discussed during his caucus meeting. “One concern was consultation and input from the local veterans organizations and the chapters. That was the question posed, but it was unanswered.”

Another question Chee had was if they were to take the interest income from the trust fund, would that mean that the chapter veterans would not be getting any funding this year or even in years to come.

“What is the interest income this year? Is that enough to cover this $5 million that we are proposing to take from this fund?” he asked. “Lastly, a constituent from Coalmine Mesa came to say that there are other pressing needs of the Navajo veterans, such as housing, such as access to medical and health services.”

Controller Mark Grant responded to Chee's questions. “The interest income for this year is $743,000. Last year it was $704,000. The year before it was $372,000, so there is insufficient income to cover the $5 million.”

Regarding the second part of the question about the impact of distribution to chapters, Grant said the policy on the Veterans Trust Fund is that 4 percent of the market value is available for appropriation.

“Right now the fund has a balance of $28.8 million. If we take 4 percent of that out, that equals $1.1 million. Out of that amount, 95 percent is available for appropriation for operations and other needs. That is where the chapter distribution will come from.” He said the chapters still would be able to make their distribution but it probably will be slightly less because of the loss of the $5 million.

However, he added that even if the amendment passed, the Controller's Office would not be able to transfer the $5 million to the Code Talkers because the amendment called for taking the funds out of the income. “There's only $700,000 (approximately) in income, so there's not enough income in this fund,” he said.

Anderson's funding attempt failed, 17-43.

Following the vote, Delegate Young Jeff Tom made a motion to table the comprehensive budget until March 31, 2011. The tabling motion passed 43-25. Council then spent the remainder of the afternoon debating a continuing resolution to keep the tribal government running, also offered by Tom. It eventually passed, 51-24.

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SMSC Charitable Grants for 2010

SMSC Grants Total $527,020
By Tessa Lehto,
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
Monday, September 13, 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community today announces several grants for fiscal year 2010.

The Lower Sioux Indian Community in Redwood County, Minnesota, received a tribal economic development grant for $309,075 for several projects. The most extensive project is a casino remodel at Jackpot Junction. Cleaning and inspection of a water tower along with parts replacement, roof repair for leaks at the community center, and a traditional Pow Wow were also funded.

The Lower Sioux Indian Community is located in south central Minnesota near Morton with the Community Center located on the southern bluffs of the Minnesota River valley. Approximately 145 families live on 1,743 acres of tribal land. A total tribal population of 982 resides throughout a 10-mile service area and beyond.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota received a grant for $100,000 for relief efforts following a flood on June 12, 2010. Over 60 tribal families were displaced, many of them losing all their possessions. SMSC funds were used for direct needs of affected families.

Following the flood, YST Chairman Robert Cournoyer said, “At this time, we must work together to make sure we address the immediate needs of the families displaced by this flood and to restore basic governmental services for the people. While the days ahead will be long, on behalf of the Ihanktonwan Nation, I offer our sincere appreciation for all of the help and assistance. We are truly grateful that we have not lost any lives and for the generosity and courage shown by all.”

The Minnesota Land Trust received $50,000 as part one of a three year grant for its work preserving natural and scenic land throughout the state. Specifically, the major new strategic initiative will help preserve more land and water resources based on sound analysis and planning, using conservation easements and other land-protection tools.

“Thanks to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the Minnesota Land Trust has been able to accelerate the protection of Minnesota’s precious natural heritage and help advance a shared land stewardship effort. We greatly appreciate the Tribe’s support,” said Minnesota Land Trust Executive Director Kris Larson.

The organization has completed 387 conservation projects that have protected 36,000 acres of land and 730,000 feet of shoreline. These projects provide benefits to the public by conserving important plant and animal habitats, protecting water quality, and preserving scenic landscapes that contribute to a community’s sense of place. The Minnesota Land Trust preserves Minnesota's natural and scenic heritage through public and private partnerships working with landowners, communities, and conservation partners.

The Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs received a $50,000 matching grant for operating support to make up for budget shortfalls. The grant matched funds from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, and the Santee Sioux Nation.

The Commission on Indian Affairs was established in 1971 and consists of 14 Indian commissioners appointed by the Governor. Additionally, the Commission has one "ex-officio" member representing the Pawnee tribe. The Commission's statutory mission is "to do all things which it may determine to enhance the cause of Indian rights and to develop solutions to problems common to all Nebraska Indians."

The Commission is the state liaison between the Omaha, Ponca, Santee Sioux, and Winnebago Tribes of Nebraska. It helps ensure the sovereignty of both tribal and state governments are recognized and acted upon in a true government-to-government relationship.

The Commission serves off-reservation Indian communities by helping assure they are afforded the right to equitable opportunities in the areas of housing, employment, education, health care, economic development, and human/civil rights within Nebraska. All goals of the Commission are accomplished through advocacy, education, and promotion of legislation.

“This donation will help ensure that the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs can effectively continue to act as liaison between state government, sovereign Nebraska tribes, and tribes from neighboring states,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

A grant for $17,945 went to the City of Saint Paul for scholarships for American Indian Youth enrolled in their 2010 EMS Academy which ran June 14-August 20, 2010. The intensive, 240 hour Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and firefighter awareness program is designed for low income youth ages 18-21 that are residents of Ramsey County.

Through the Parks and Recreation Department Youth Job Corps and Ramsey County Workforce Solutions the participants were hired and paid to attend the ten week certification and job competency program. At the completion of the program graduates were eligible to apply for EMT positions and take future Saint Paul Firefighter entrance tests.

Participants received college credit for successfully completing the academy. The goal of the program is to build an EMT workforce that is reflective of the communities that EMS serves in Saint Paul. Recruitment is targeted to low-income youth of diverse ethnicities, women, and bilingual ability.

“On behalf of the stakeholders involved with the Academy, I thank you for your commitment to the EMS Academy,” wrote Luz Maria Frias, director of the Saint Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need. Over the past 13 years, the SMSC has donated more than $180.8 million to charitable organizations.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

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Report: Grand Canyon Faces Challenges

Park Faces Threats From Water Diversion, Overflights, Mining, Power Generation
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The Grand Canyon, with rocks more than a billion years old, has withstood the test of time. However, despite the many protections provided it, Grand Canyon National Park faces many threats to its resources from water diversion, overflights, mining and power generation.

An August “State of the Parks” report from the National Parks Conservation Association analyzes the complex problems facing the 1.2 million acre World Heritage Site and provides recommendations on how to meet those challenges. The association has been working to protect the National Park System since 1919.

Colorado River management actions that are not protective of fish, river flows, habitats, cultural and archaeological resources; management of air tour overflights; the filing of new mining claims, including uranium, and contamination from past mining activities; air pollution from coal-fired power plants and other sources that obscure scenic vistas; damage from grazing and water development; and potential impacts due to climate change are among the problems cited in the report.

The General Mining Act of 1872, which regulates mining on public lands, opened public lands to mineral exploration and development. When uranium prices hit $133 per pound in 2007, it spurred renewed interest in uranium mining on public lands around the Grand Canyon.

There are currently hundreds and possibly thousands of uranium claims staked on Bureau of Land Management lands just to the north of the Grand Canyon and to the west of Kaibab National Forest. Hundreds more lie within the boundaries of the Tusayan Ranger District to the south. Many are in watersheds and on aquifers that feed tributaries, seeps and springs within the park.

Cataract Creek, which flows through the Havasupai Reservation on the canyon's south rim could serve as a conduit for contamination of the Colorado River, which provides drinking water to 25 million people, because much of its drainage comes from the Tusayan Ranger District.

Last summer, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar temporarily barred the filing of new claims on nearly 1 million acres of public land surrounding the canyon. The two-year moratorium is designed to provide an opportunity to study potential impacts to public lands adjacent to the canyon.

Roger Clark, Air and Energy director for Grand Canyon Trust in Flagstaff, said a draft environmental impact statement addressing whether to extend the moratorium to 20 years was due out this month but has been delayed until October.

“That's an administrative withdrawal. That would affect new claims but it wouldn't affect claims that have valid and existing rights. So while this is going on, uranium mining has started up. It started in December of last year at the Arizona One mine in the Kanab Creek drainage on the north side, and we're fighting that legally.”

Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Department of the Interior after the Bureau of Land Management allowed the mine to reopen without redoing the environmental assessment, which was completed in 1988. “A lot of things have changed since 1988,” Clark said, including the list of endangered species.

BLM manages land on the north side of the canyon; the U.S. Forest Service manages the land on the south side. The Forest Service has determined that mines such as Arizona One which were partially mined out in the 1970s and 1980s have to go through a new, full environmental impact statement. “So you've got two federal agencies in conflict, and we're using that in our legal argument before the federal district court judge.”

“There are some places you shouldn't mine uranium,” Clark said. “We hear this baloney about it being important for national energy security and we say, 'Tell me how that is when it's Canadian and British companies mining out uranium and they have long-term contracts for the processed ore to go to France and Korea.

“Tell me again how this is good when you have foreign companies that do not pay anything to the federal government because it's considered hard rock mining. There's no royalty payment; it's zero that the federal taxpayer gets except for the toxic waste they leave behind. Yes, there's some jobs and some state taxes and equipment taxes; but it's boom and bust and they're gone. We're still trying to deal with the legacy of the last uranium boom.”

The National Park Service has spent about $10 million to restore the Orphan Mine site after the federal government was left holding the bag, he said.

Horn Creek, below Orphan Mine, has springs feeding onto Tonto Trail. “The Park Service has advised backpackers for years not to even think about using that water,” he said. “Even if you filter it, it doesn't get out the radionuclides. When you get the groundwater damaged, there's no turning back.” Grand Canyon Trust is trying to get a canyon watershed protection act passed by Congress.

The report recommends the remaining environmentally sensitive areas surrounding the park be permanently withdrawn from mineral extraction, including the Tusayan Ranger District and BLM lands in the Kanab Creek drainage and House Rock Valley.

In addition to mining, the report cites air quality as a threat. More than 4.5 million people visit the canyon every year and about a quarter of those visitors stay only a few hours to experience the canyon from the rims, thus, the view may be the single most important factor influencing their experience, the report states.

Fog, smoke from nearby fires, regional haze, and high winds all can mar visibility and diminish the visitors' experience of the park. The National Park Service does not have direct authority over external sources of pollution and the report recommends it communicate concerns about emissions to regulators.

Coal-fired power plants contribute to air quality issues at many national parks in the region, including the Grand Canyon. Navajo Generating Station, the eighth largest in the country, is less than 12 miles from the canyon and emits fine, haze-causing particles and excessive amounts of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, according to the report.

The Four Corners Power Plant, about 200 miles east of the canyon, has the highest annual emission of nitrogen oxides of any plant in the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of rule-making that may affect the emissions of both plants and, ultimately, visibility in Grand Canyon National Park.

“There is the pending regional haze rule on Navajo Generating Station which, if EPA requires the Selective Catalytic Reduction on Navajo Generating Station, it will reduce the impact of that power plant on visibility at the Grand Canyon,” Clark said, though the plant's owners diagree.

“But even if this current rule-making goes awry, we've got a backup hammer, which is a more stringent rule under the Clean Air Act.” Clark said the Park Service has evidence showing that Navajo Generating Station is impairing visibility at Grand Canyon.

“That may sound like the same thing as contributing to regional haze,” he said, “but it's a more specific finding that has tighter rules and requirements that basically say that if we don't get Navajo to clean up under the regional haze rule, we're going to get them under the visibility rule.”

Information: www.npca.org/stateoftheparks

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SMSC Mobile Health Unit Fall 2010 Schedule

SMSC, Scott County, Twin Cities, Red Lake Reservation
by Tessa Lehto,
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – This fall the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Mobile Unit will be kept busy providing services to Minnesota residents. In addition to the already announced collaboration with Scott County, the Mobile Unit will travel to northern Minnesota tribal communities on several occasions and provide services in the Twin Cities as well.

The SMSC announces the upcoming fall schedule for its Mobile Unit, a combined project of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community's Health Department and Mdewakanton Emergency Services.

The SMSC Mobile Unit is both a mobile medical clinic, which provides health screening, mammograms, prevention and education, treatment services, and a mobile incident command center which can be used to handle emergency situations like search and rescue, lost children, Incident Command support, and Medical Support for events.

“We’re happy to be able to provide our Mobile Unit to provide mammograms and other services to people who need them,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

In 2009 1,861 mammograms were performed aboard the SMSC Mobile Unit. More than 2,550 mammograms have been performed since operations began in 2007. In addition, health screenings, dental services, vision services, and a diabetes management clinic have been held. The Mobile Unit also provides services to SMSC Community members, Native Americans who live in Scott County, and employees during monthly health screening events.

Fall 2010 Mobile Unit Schedule:
Scott County Public Health Deployments: 2:00 – 6:00 p.m.
September 9 Savage Library
September 23 Shakopee Russian Church
October 14 Jordan Fair Grounds
October 28 Savage Library
November 4 Shakopee Russian Church
November 18 Jordan Fair Grounds
December 2 Savage Library
December 16 Shakopee Russian Church
December 30 Jordan Fair Grounds

Other Deployments:
September 10, City of Saint Paul, “Grand Opening” of their new Head Quarter Fire Station 1-

September 13-17, Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, Red Lake School, Well Child/ Lead Screening/Vision-

September 21-22, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Bug-o-nay-ge-shig School, Cass Lake, Dental-

September 27, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Ne-La-Shing Clinic, Mammography-

September 28, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, McGregor Clinic, Mammography-

September 29, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Lake Lena/Sandstone Clinic, Mammography-

September 30, Fremont Clinic System, Minneapolis, Sheridan Clinic, Mammography -

October 3, Twin Cities Marathon, Saint Paul-

October 5-6, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, Tower/Nett Lake (TBD), Mammography -

October 13, Native American Community Clinic, Minneapolis, Mammography -

October 15, Brainerd Dispatch Think Pink Campaign, Brainerd -

October 21, Indian Health Board, Minneapolis, Mammography -

October 27, United Family Clinic, Saint Paul, Mammography-

November 8-12, Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, Grand Portage Clinic,Dental/Diabetes/Vision

For more information about the SMSC Mobile Unit visiting your community, go to http://www.smscmobile.org/
or call SMSC Mobile Unit Coordinator Christine Michael at 952-233-2964.

*Schedule subject to change

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux CommunityThe SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for all of the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need.

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'Sewer Water' For Snow-Making Approved For Flagstaff Snowbowl

Forest Service Ignores Possibility of Human Ingestion
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The Flagstaff City Council voted 5-2 Thursday not to amend the contract for the Arizona Snowbowl to allow the use of drinking water for artificial snow-making on the San Francisco Peaks.

“They're going to make snow with sewer water,” Arizona Sen. Albert Hale, D-2nd District, said Thursday afternoon.

The contract calls for 1.5 million gallons of treated wastewater per day to be used for snow-making three months of the year, from November through February, at the ski resort located on the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain sacred to 13 Arizona Indian tribes, including the Navajo and Hopi.

“It's unfortunate that city council did not amend the contract to allow for the use of drinking water,” Hale said. “The use of drinking water to make snow seemed to be the least offensive to Indian tribes. But I think there are still options that need to be explored.

“The option that remains is the possibility of buying out the Snowbowl. That would satisfy the concerns expressed by Indian nations,” he said. Representatives of the different nations would have to come together and figure out how to come up with the money for the buyout, which could run as high as $80 million.

During Thursday's meeting of the Navajo Nation Council, Delegate Raymond Maxx attempted to have Council authorize attorney Howard Shanker as the Nation's lawyer, to legally challenge the Flagstaff City Council authorization in court “using any available legal means necessary.”

The letter by Maxx was introduced by Delegate Raymond Joe. However, they were told that any authorization would have to go through the Office of the Attorney General. Maxx said he would proceed on that recommendation.

Hale, who was Navajo Nation president from 1995 to 1998 and also served as an assistant attorney general, said that in his view, “The court has run its course. There needs to be an exploration of other options. That's my feeling.”

The city council met Monday on whether to amend the existing contract between the city and the Snowbowl partners. That was the only issue, Hale said, “But what I was hearing a lot of, especially from Indian nation representatives, was we don't want any more expansion, we don't want development, we don't want snow-making. As I understand it, we're beyond those issues. The better option would have been for the Indian nations to get together and buy out the permit.”

Hale said that before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' en banc decision in 2009, he conveyed a buyout offer to the Navajo Nation leadership. “There was an offer that was made from the partners. I left it with the leadership and they didn't do anything. If they had pursued that option we wouldn't be at this point.”

Cora Maxx-Phillips, executive director of the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services who has been on special assignment with Council Delegate Thomas Walker Jr., visited 20 Arizona Indian tribes in the past week in a three-day meeting marathon to discuss options.

“The tribes have steadfastly maintained a united position to not do any kind of snow-making,” she said. “This fight has been going on since the 1970s, so this is like a 30 year ordeal for me, being a part of the effort and the struggle to preserve the Peaks in its pristine condition.

“Back in the 1970s when we lost the (Snowbowl) battle, we walked away quietly. My message to the tribes has been that we can no longer walk away quietly because there are so many issues at stake.”

Maxx-Phillips said she is pushing for a centralized focus group from the tribes that will take a serious look at the issues. “We need to begin a very concerted effort in establishing a law that will protect sacred land. There is no such law at this point.”

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was tried twice back in the 1970s and again recently by Shanker. “We know that it still is not strong enough to represent our interests, so it needs to be amended,” she said.

Snowbowl General Partner Erick Borowsky Tuesday that he was asking the city council to use recovered-reclaimed drinking water “because I understand it's an issue with the tribes from a religious standpoint. I prefer to respect that and come up with the best possible solution. I really feel bad, and it's very unfortunate, that the elected officials of these tribes have basically messed up a federal compromise that I think was the best possible solution.”

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said in a statement Thursday that from time immemorial, Dook’o’osliid, the mountain known to the foreigners as the San Francisco Peaks, has been sacred to Diné – the Navajo People – and to all the indigenous people of northern Arizona.

“To Diné, the sacred mountain of the West represents life itself. Our sacred deity, Changing Woman, placed this mountain here for us and bound it to the Earth with a sunbeam when the world was made for the five-fingered, intelligent, Earth-dwellers called homo sapiens.”

Ever since that time, and centuries before the multitude of foreigners first saw it, Diné journeyed to this sacred mountain to collect herbs and to make their offerings and prayers. The reverence for which Diné hold Dook’o’osliid has never ceased, never waned, Shirley said. “Dook’o’osliid is one of our strengths. It is our essence. It is us.”

Walker said recently that asking the Navajo Nation whether they prefer potable or effluent water “is essentially asking us if we are willing to negotiate our identity as Navajos. Dook’o’osliid is inextricably tied to our identity, much like one’s family
members are part of one’s identity. It is like asking us to turn our back on a family member. As such, this is a matter that we cannot negotiate.”

Judge Mary H. Murguia at U.S. District Court in Phoenix refused to rule in July on Shanker's request for an injunction to keep the Snowbowl from starting construction. Instead, she asked the parties to come to an agreement. With Thursday's action by the city council, Shanker could ask for a ruling on the injunction.

The case known as Save the Peaks Coalition, et al. v. U.S. Forest Service focuses on potential public health risks of human ingestion of snow made from reclaimed wastewater. The suit asserts that the Final Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Forest Service ignores the possibility of human ingestion of snow made from treated sewage effluent.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

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NATIVE AMERICA, DISCOVERED AND CONQUERED
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/

PATHOLOGY.ORG - Up-to-date informmational database on general health and disease information, medical schools and medical resources.
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NAPT Announces Open Call For Proposals For Filmmakers - Hidden World Of Girl's Series

Increase Diversity Of Voices In Public Media
Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT) proudly announces its annual Open Call for proposals from filmmakers. With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the NAPT Public Television Program Fund will award support to video projects with significant Native involvement--including documentary, performance, cultural/public affairs and animation--and help bring the projects to national broadcast on public television.

Submitted proposals must be postmarked by March 16, 2011.

"The purpose of the Program Fund is to increase the diversity of voices in public media," said NAPT Executive Director Shirley K. Sneve (Sicangu Lakota). "There are very few avenues open to documentary filmmakers, and NAPT believes that our organization has a great responsibility to support the creation, promotion and distribution of Native media."

NAPT also believes that support from NAPT can help open other doors for various forms of other funding." Projects in any phase of production are eligible to apply for funding with NAPT. Awards for research and development range from $10,000 to $25,000, and awards for production or completion can be up to $100,000.

NAPT does not fully fund programs, and awardees are required to seek additional funding from other sources. Projects funded through NAPT will be considered for home and/or educational DVD distribution through NAPT's service VisionMaker Video.

"First and foremost, NAPT is looking for compelling Native stories," Sneve says. "Second, NAPT would like to see programs that accurately illuminate aspects of contemporary Tribal cultures or peoples. The primary audience is PBS viewers, so NAPT wants stories that transcend cultures."

A five-person anonymous panel of public television professionals, independent producers, and Native history and resource experts review submissions and recommend proposals for funding. Additionally, NAPT assists producers with fundraising, navigating the public television system, marketing efforts and thinking beyond the broadcast.

"Many folks who would be interested in this content may not watch television, but they do use the Internet," says NAPT Assistant Director Georgiana Lee (Navajo). "There is more to many of these stories than can be told in an hour-long television program, and NAPT can show that on the Web via our soon-to-be-launched educational microsite, downloadable podcasts and more."

For program fund guidelines and application materials, please visit nativetelecom.org/program_fund.

Contact: Jessica Kinser
(402) 472-8607
jkinser2@unl.edu

Brave Heart Women's Society
A new piece from our Hidden World of Girls series will be aired this Monday on NPR's Morning Edition.

We think our story, which is about recovering tradition and building unity within the Native American community, might be of interest to Native Unity readers!

In this piece, we look at The Brave Heart Women's Society, and coming of age rituals on a reservation in South Dakota.

The Hidden World of Girls is a year-long collaboration between public radio producers, The Kitchen Sisters, NPR, artists, musicians, writers, anthropologists, photographers and our listeners.

We hope that you will be able to pass on this invitation and tune in Monday to Morning Edition on your local NPR station or NPR.org.

Intern, The Kitchen Sisters
http://www.hiddenworldofgirls.org/

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

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NATIVE AMERICA, DISCOVERED AND CONQUERED
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/

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