3 March
2003
Media Contact:
Charles Hudson, CRITFC,
(503) 731-1257
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National Congress of American
Indians agrees with call for BPA audit
CRITFC, federal lawmakers
continue push for investigation of agency’s fish, wildlife funding
Portland, Oregon
- Northwest tribes
went national last Wednesday with their call for a management and
financial audit of the Bonneville Power Administration’s fish
and wildlife program and other reforms at the federal energy marketer.
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), meeting in Washington,
D.C., last week for its 2003 Executive Council Winter Session, unanimously
passed an emergency resolution reprimanding Bonneville for its proposal
to cut funding for fish and wildlife protection, mitigation and enhancement
programs by nearly 45 percent a year through 2006.
A member of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) introduced
the resolution, which was worded similarly to one approved by ATNI’s
54 member tribes at a meeting earlier this month in Portland.
Like its ATNI counterpart, the NCAI resolution seeks a full audit
of Bonneville and execution by the agency of the National Marine Fisheries
Service’s 2000 Biological Opinion on the 29-dam Federal Columbia
River Power System and the Northwest Power Planning Council’s
fish and wildlife program.
The resolution blasts Bonneville for failing to administer and consistently
under-funding its obligations to fish and wildlife in the region “in
a manner consistent with federal statutes and with its trust responsibility
to the Indian tribes of the Columbia Basin.” The resolution
further noted these issues “could provide an adverse precedent
for other federal agencies that have a responsibility to protect trust
resources of Indian tribes throughout the United States.”
Don Sampson, CRITFC executive director, said Bonneville officials
were warned its indiscretions would eventually gain national notoriety.
"People are starting to look at this, and they’re concerned,"
Sampson said. "Federal agencies are basically abrogating their
responsibilities to the tribes under the treaties. We’re jeopardizing
salmon as a national treasure."
Sampson pointed out that several members of Congress, including Sens.
John McCain of Arizona and Michael Crapo of Idaho, are calling for
a congressional investigation and oversight of Bonneville. “Others
are beginning to look into our situation,” he said.
Indeed, Crapo, in a press release, last week echoed the tribes’
concerns.
“Congress, the (Bush) Administration, and its many agencies
need to accelerate the pace of implementing measures we all know will
help fish recovery,” Crapo, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee
on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water, said Feb. 26. “I am particularly
concerned about the Bonneville Power Administration’s proposed
cuts in its Fish and Wildlife Program and the lack of appropriations
dedicated to habitat improvement.
“I am sufficiently concerned about the status of the entire
recovery effort that I believe a formal Senate hearing should be convened
by my subcommittee to give all those who are concerned an opportunity
to weigh in on how we get these fish recovered. We are losing time
and wasting too many efforts on this matter.”
Justin Gould, CRITFC chairman, said the resolution’s quick passage
underscored the direness with which NCAI members view the situation
with Bonneville.
“Bonneville’s actions are having a chilling effect on
tribes nationwide, not just here in the Northwest,” said Gould,
a member of the Nez Perce Tribe. “Many tribes believe that if
a federal agency like Bonneville is allowed to arbitrarily cut nationally
prominent fish and wildlife programs without even a wink, the other
federal agencies they work with in their own areas will begin looking
at their programs with equal indifference.”
The NCAI resolution sends a clear message to Congress that “the
impasse on Bonneville funding can only be broken by a congressional
investigation with the assistance of a management and financial audit,”
Gould said.
W. Ron Allen, chairman and executive director of the Sequim, Wash.-based
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, helped gain passage for the NCAI
resolution, which he says enjoyed overwhelming support among NCAI
representatives.
He agreed that many of them believe Bonneville’s actions are
creating “similar concerns in their respective areas.”
“If Bonneville’s indifference is gone unchallenged, then
the other federal agencies will attempt to extend the same disrespect
toward tribes and our treaty resources,” said Allen, whose tribe
is among 19 member tribes of Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
“BPA’s actions are a cause for tribal concern nationwide
as a federal policy of fiscal indifference toward the nation’s
obligation to protect treaty rights.”
He added that the resolution establishes a “clear, strong, nationwide
Indian voice that BPA must become accountable for its fiscal management
as it applies to fishery concerns. BPA has an obligation to assist
the tribes and the states to protect and restore the lost treaty resource
and culture of our Indian communities.”
Now that the NCAI resolution has been adopted, it will be sent to
key members and committees of Congress, as well as to the Bush Administration,
Allen said. He noted that its influence will strengthen in the coming
weeks as tribes couple its distribution around Washington, D.C., with
a stepped-up educational campaign aimed at key lawmakers and administration
officials.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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