organizations in 37 states and territories. Under funding authorized by the Native American Programs Act, administered by the Administration for Native Americans, Tribes have made great gains in recent years. This unique grant program is the only one left available to Tribes that provides resources on a annual basis for those types of projects that are not funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. The Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) is particularly effective in this period of Tribal growth. Other agencies present Self-determination and Self-governance opportunities, primarily through PL93-638 (as amended), by allowing Tribes to contract BIA and IHS functions. The opportunities that ΑΝΑ provide are critical to self-determination such as comprehensive land use planning, government-to-government projects which allow Tribes and local governments to cooperate in providing services to reservation residents where there is a checkerboard jurisdiction problem, developing Tribal governing capacity, and many more programs that are not fundable by any other agency. The legislature of the State of Washington is currently wrestling with growth management. It is expected that the State will enact some sort of additional growth management control legislation (strengthening the 1990 Growth Management Act, ESHB 2929) during special session later this month in Olympia. That combined with the creation of Regional Transportation Planning Organizations (RTPOs) will ensure that all comprehensive land use plans and transportation plans must be cohesive and consistent with neighboring jurisdiction plans. The Administration for Native Americans is currently the main source of funding for Tribes to be able to complete reservation comprehensive land use plans in our region. Without this funding source Tribes would be placed in a position of having to either accept land use planning dictated by county governments or be placed in a position of having to mediate land use designations without adequate technical expertise. This is particularly critical in the environmental areas of water resources and habitat protection which require a good deal of technical expertise that, in some cases, would not be available without funding support from ANA. ANA has also provided vital assistance in the area of infrastructure development and improvement. Other funding sources such as the Economic Development Administration and Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) are becoming increasing more difficult to obtain. Tribes must rely on ANA for infrastructure development assistance in order to develop a sound social and economic base which will make reservations more attractive for not only their own members to reside, but in addition, service oriented businesses as well. I want to urge you to continue authorization of this valuable resource for Tribes, at a level that would allow all Tribes to participate. In addition, I feel it is paramount at this time to request your attention be paid to the Indian Environmental Regulatory Enhancement Act of 1991 (PL101-408) which still has not been authorized at the level approved of $8,000,000 for 1991 and subsequent years under the authorization. The Tribes are presently severely handicapped by a lack of funding and program support at a time when most reservations are subject to intense stress upon their environments. Thanks to previous and current support from the Administration for Native Americans the Suquamish Tribe has been able to develop a community revitalization program for the village of Suquamish and has entered into negotiation with Kitsap County regarding government-to-government relations. These programs would be very difficult at best to achieve if it were not for the funding received form the Administration for Native Americans. Thank you again for this opportunity to express the views of the Suquamish Tribe and I wish you well in deliberations. Chairman MARTINEZ. I have quite a few. I come from local government, you know. And I understand how hard it is to deal with local government when you do not have intergovernmental problems- Ms. GEORGE. Yes. Chairman MARTINEZ. [continuing] as the tribe does, or a small tribe like yours. But trying to head off things before they get to a crisis nature. Ms. GEORGE. Yes. Chairman MARTINEZ. There is one area that interests me very much because I understand the patchwork that is taking place not only here but in other places where the Indians were allowed to sell land under that Allotment Act. Ms. GEORGE. Yes, sir. Chairman MARTINEZ. And where they maybe had 80 acres and sold it for $100 an acre, that land is ten times that value now, but what it has done is created that patchwork of non-Indian and Indian ownership. Ms. GEORGE. Yes, sir. Chairman MARTINEZ. Which has created a lot of the problems, especially in the State of Washington where I understand they have a case going now trying to take away the tax exempt status of the Indian land because non-Indian land right next to it is taxed. And most people feel it is unfair. And you feel that if taxes are paying for certain services that everyone is getting that everyone should pay that tax. We have something like that in California, Prop 13, where they have increased the value of property, or the assessed value of property for taxation purposes. Ms. GEORGE. Yes. Chairman MARTINEZ. When a property is sold. And the other property that is not sold does not get its property value increased but it could receive the same services as the one that is of higher tax rate. Ms. GEORGE. Yes. Chairman MARTINEZ. So it creates inequities. When we get through with the panel I would like to come back and talk to you about how within that realm of things you are talking about you are dealing with that particular aspect of it and how we might be able better to help you on that. At this time I will go back to the scheduled appearance. And since I have given the lady plenty of time I am going to remind the rest of the witnesses that we are on a five-minute rule, which I would never impose on a lady. But we are not going to stick to that strictly, just as a general. Try to outline your ideas. Your testimony in its entirety will be entered into the record. And so we will have people who will read those. And many of us have already read them. And we understand a lot of what you have said in your full written statement. So please try to keep your oral presentation concise. Let me say that if you feel you need to complete your statement as written, go ahead and do it. And with that we will go to the original order, Mr. James. No, excuse me. Mr. Clark. STATEMENT OF ERNIE CLARK, DIRECTOR, PLANNING AND NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT, COEUR D'ALENE TRIBE, PLUMMER, IDAHO Mr. CLARK. Mr. Martinez, Mr. Hayes, it is a pleasure for the Coeur D'Alene Tribe to have a chance to share our views. We plan on addressing the reauthorization of NAPA. And we are also going to comment on the new Indian Environmental Regulatory Enhancement Act, the new environmental initiative of ANA. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe is located in northern Idaho. We are about 30 miles from Spokane. And we have 345,000 acres of beautiful mountains, lakes and streams. And ANA has been very important to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe over the past several years. And we think that ANA has played a very special role in the social and economic development of tribes when they needed it the most. Many tribes are dependent on natural resources. As you all know, the timber market fluctuates. Mining, natural gas, oil prices are down. This really hurts not only the Coeur d'Alene Tribe but most other tribes throughout the Nation. And what ANA has done for the tribes within the past 10 years is provided some funds so that we can diversify into other enterprises and so forth. Many tribes such as ours are trying to become less dependent on the commodities and we are getting into recreation, recreation development, small manufacturing firms, and are focusing on the service sector. We are really trying to diversify. And in so doing we hope to fulfill one of the major intents of Congress in the ANA program, which is self sufficiency of tribes. And we are on our way with the help of ANA. One of the programs that we funded with an ANA grant was the development of a business arm of the tribal government. The tribe created a special corporation that is overseeing the enterprises. What we are trying to do is get politics out of business so that the businesses can run and be self sufficient. And this has really been a big positive step for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. And with the help of ANA grant we currently have a development corporation which is running our enterprises. The enterprises are successful. We are employing tribal members who would probably not be employed. And we are on our way towards self sufficiency. While you are considering the reauthorization of this act we would really like to see ANA's status within the Department of Human Health Services enhanced. We would like to see ANA become a higher priority within the department and not lower. We would really hate to see ANA's status diminished. We had a fax from NCAI yesterday. And they shared with us an effort within the Department of Human Health Services to lower ANA status. And we think that would be very detrimental to Indian country, tribes throughout the country. They are talking about putting ANA within other programs. And until yesterday we did not know this. And within our written testimony we were encouraging Congress to communicate to the Department of Human Health Services the tribe's concern and a strong national effort that is under way, led by NCAI, to recommend that ANA's commissioner report directly to the Secretary rather than going through an Assistant Secretary. And we have other recommendations that are in our written record. So we really encourage you to watch that and try to give ANA a boost so that their role will not be diminished within the Department of Human Health Services. As far as the Indian Environmental Regulatory Enhancement Act, we support that. We think it is very timely. This program would allow tribes to develop infrastructures for environmental programs. Most tribes do not have the funds to have an infrastructure hiring hydrologists, engineers and so forth. This act would really help tribes out. Something is going on nationally that is very positive for Indian country. It is EPA's initiative to designate Indian tribes treating them as States. What this does, it opens up an array of environmental programs to Indian tribes, such as the Clean Lake Act, air quality, hazardous waste. And the EPA is funding States millions and millions of dollars. And the tribes will have an opportunity to implement these programs but they do not have the infrastructure. And this new program for ANA will provide the tribes with an infrastructure and allow them to start gearing up and accepting these new environmental programs from EPA. One of the things that we are doing on Coeur d'Alene is the tribe is negotiating with the State of Idaho for the bed and banks of the whole lake. And we had a public meeting last week where there were approximately 800 land owners around the lake. And threefourths of them were supporting the tribe's initiative to assert their ownership of the lake, saying that the Indian tribes would be in a better position to clean up the lake than the State because they said the State of Idaho has really done a really terrible job. The lake has become a Superfund site. And with that I would like to have our councilman Henry SiJohn comment on our Superfund problem. [The prepared statement of Ernie Clark follows:] |