NALU: June 2012 - Latest on the HEARTH Act, VAWA, Cobell Settlement, and More
Native American Legislative Update: June 2012
Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar
On May 15, the House voted 400 to 0 to pass the HEARTH Act, which would authorize tribes to lease tribal lands without having to get prior approval for each lease from the Secretary of the Interior.
The House and the Senate have now each passed their own versions of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization but are currently deadlocked over a technicality in the bill.
The House Natural Resources Committee has now approved legislation that aims to streamline administrative processes currently hampering the development of energy projects on Indian lands.
After nearly two years of negotiations, some tribes have now been awarded funds that should have been available to them, in some cases, for more than 100 years.
The Penobscot Indian Nation has joined a broad consortium of organizations, businesses and government agencies to launch a project to open up the Penobscot, Maine's largest river, to reduce the impact of dams on the life-cycle of migrating fish.
A new project in Navajo Nation is set to provide clean running water to tribal citizens' homes that have never had access to it before.
The House approved several bills affecting specific tribes and Alaska Natives, as well as a bill that would violate long standing environmental and Native American protections.
