Bureaucracy often impedes development, officials say.
Tulsa World
By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 4/2/2011 2:27 AM
Last Modified: 4/2/2011 6:43 AM
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Dan Boren joined a Republican subcommittee chairman Friday in discussing dramatic changes in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' historic trust role when it comes to developing energy resources on tribal land.
Both the Oklahoma Democrat and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, made it clear they wanted to free up the tribes from what critics view as BIA's slow and cumbersome bureaucracy.
"I don't want BIA to be a deterrent,'' Young declared in a hearing, asking at one point why the agency has to be involved in tribes' energy development at all.
While taking care not to blame BIA's current leadership, Young also referred to the federal government's "Big Daddy'' approach.
Boren, who serves as the top Democrat on the newly created House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, also used the hearing to comment, with less flair, on efforts to develop tribal energy resources.
Thus far, he said, the federal government has missed opportunities to encourage Indian Country to invest in energy... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sat, April 2, 2011
by John Cox