For perhaps the first time, you have an opportunity to strike a blow for fairness in the established process for taking land into trust for Indian gaming. This is an appeal for your help on behalf of state and local governments who have such little standing before the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that at this point they are little more than speed bumps in that process.
A February 2009 Supreme Court ruling (Carcieri v. Salazar) now prohibits the Department of the Interior (DOI)/BIA from taking land into trust on behalf of tribes acknowledged by the federal government after 1934. This impacts so many tribes in so many ways that a variety of proposals for reinstating federal authority for trust land acquisitions are right now being generated for Congressional action.
We are writing to ask you to join in insisting that
when Congress addresses this issue for post-1934 tribes, it simultaneously addresses the interests of local communities -- by changing the trust land acquisition process to ensure fairness and objectivity in DOI/BIA's trust land decisions.
Under 25 C.F.R. Part 151, BIA allows only perfunctory review and comment by third parties, even though they may experience major negative impacts from federal trust land decisions. BIA only accepts comments from the affected state and the local government with legal jurisdiction over the land, and then only on the questions of lost tax revenue and zoning conflicts!
As a result, under current BIA practice, trust acquisition requests are reviewed under a one-sided and incomplete record that does not provide an adequate representation of the consequences of the decision. (See Senate Bill 338 below)
We must secure the help of our respective Congressional delegations to ensure that Congress addresses both sides of this problem: the absence of federal authority to acquire trust lands that affects post-1934 tribes, and the lack of meaningful standards and a fair process that affects states, local governments, businesses and non-tribal communities. If Congress is to open up the trust land issue, reform that is the interest of all of the affected parties is essential.
This is an opportunity that may never return.
A Catalyst for Reform, Restoring the Delicate Balance of Authorities between Tribes, States Rights and the Federal Government
1) Notify appropriate allies in your state, county and local governments of this opportunity to even up the trust land acquisition playing field. (See sidebar for local government email links)
