Interview with Rep. Hastings on tribal issues in the 112th Congress

Tuesday, February 8, 2011  

"Q. Re-establishment of the Indian and Interior Subcommittee. Every two years, congressional leaders, Indian tribal leaders, and others revisit the issue of re-establishing the Subcommittee on Indian and Interior Issues. Do you expect the subcommittee to return or will the Indian issues be handled at the Full Committee level as they have been since 1995?

A. I am happy to report the establishment of a Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, to be led by Congressman Don Young of Alaska. Mr. Young has a long, distinguished record of leadership on Indian and Alaska Native issues and I am pleased he has accepted the chairmanship. The establishment of the new subcommittee enables a core group of members to address tribal matters with a special focus that is not always possible when such matters are considered at the Full Committee level or within another subcommittee. It also facilitates consultation between the House and Indian Country, and transparency that voters demanded in the recent November elections.

Q. Economic Development on Indian Lands. What, in your view, are the biggest challenges to greater levels of investment and business activity on Indian lands?

A. There are a number of challenges, but a primary obstacle is excessive federal control of business activity on Indian lands. In our great free enterprise system, investors interested in locating to a reservation or individual allotment cannot tolerate the kind of delays and uncertainty inherent in the current federal system governing investment and business on Indian lands. The current regulatory process is outdated. It is also exposed to political pressure, federal lawsuits, and epic amounts of red tape. As a result, business construction and development in some regions of the United States can be found thriving on non-tribal lands while across the reservation boundary line, tribal lands are found to be vacant.

To their credit, a number a tribes are leading the way in navigating around the federal leasing minefield, establishing themselves as some of the most successful land managers around. Using them as examples, a new federal paradigm ought to be explored to give tribes and individual Indian landowners the option – at their discretion – of enjoying the freedom, risk, responsibility, and reward of managing their lands without obtrusive BIA involvement. Tribes know best how to meet their own land management objectives.

In the next Congress, the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs will conduct a thorough review of these issues in a manner that respects our unique congressional-tribal relationship and maximizes the tribes’ natural and inherent advantages to create business and job opportunities.

Q. Indian Energy and Natural Resources Development. Indian Country is endowed with huge potential to develop timber, agricultural products, oil, gas, coal, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal and other forms of energy. How can your committee help the tribes interested in developing their resources achieve their potential? Will the committee consider legislation such as the “Indian Energy Parity Act of 2010” that was introduced but not enacted in the 111th Congress?

A. Tribes are indeed richly blessed with “all-of-the-above” energy resources, minerals, and fertile farm and timber resources. I am very familiar with the large, land-based tribes in Washington state that have abundant and wellmanaged timberlands. Some forestry experts have found these lands to be in better health than the U.S. forest lands abutting the reservations.

Each tribal and individual Indian landowner decides how best to utilize their natural resources, but the federal government should be a better partner than it has been in helping them pursue a wise use of their trust assets.

Concerning energy policy, though there does not appear to be a House version of the “Indian Energy Parity Act of 2010,” the bill contains concepts rooted in self-determination that warrant serious consideration. Energy production is a major component of the Natural Resources Committee agenda in the 112th Congress, and increasing U.S. energy production to grow our economy and create new jobs is a priority of the Republican Majority. Tribal development of energy resources – renewable and non-renewable – will occupy a very important place in our deliberations."

Get the Story:
Paul G. Moorehead, Kevin J. Wadzinski, Brian Gunn and Alicia M. Sylvester: Questions from the Tribal Business Journal for incoming HCNR Chairman Doc Hastings (Lexology 2/8)
Subscription may be required to view the article.