Energy Policy: More drilling more problems

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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MAY 31, 2001

For fiscal year 2002 alone, about $165 million has been requested by Norton for trust reform projects. Combined with funding for the past two years, the Interior has spent over $400 million to try and fix the funds, including a widely criticized project to develop an automated, computerized system for which a crucial part is expected to be launched next month in Cobell's home state of Montana.

Still, the costs this year threaten to escalate as Norton prepares to sign off on a plan to conduct a statistical analysis of the accounts. The Interior says it could cost anywhere from $17.5 million to $70 million just to analyze 350 accounts, less than 0.01 percent of the total.

But even these attempts aren't always successful. Big five accounting firm Arthur Andersen could only partially reconcile tribal accounts, which at about 1,200 are considerably less of a problem than the IIM ones.

The firm then tried to analyze 17,000 IIM accounts, but it proved a failure. In 1989, Arthur Andersen estimated it could cost up to $280 million to fix the accounts, a figure now surpassed by years of Interior spending.

In total, the government paid Arthur Anderson $12 million to restore the tribal systems, whose assets are estimated at about $2.3 billion. The reconciliation, said Interior spokesperson Stephanie Hanna, should dispel fears that tribes won't receive money from increased development under the Bush administration.

Yet even on tribal accounts, the government has been cheated of funds. Within the past year, the Department of Justice has settled $415 million worth of claims with some of the world's largest oil companies for underpaying tribal and federal owners for resources extracted.

All of these problems, naturally, don't have Cobell convinced that development of any sort will pay off. Believing an oil well exists on land passed down through generations of her Blackfeet family, a company recently contacted her to seek approval to tap into the reserves there.

"I didn't even know I had an oil well," said a perplexed Cobell. "We've never been provided with an accurate list of everything we've owned. We don't have anybody in charge that really knows what they are doing in the Department of Interior."

And to this day, Cobell continues to receive financial statements from the government which plainly state the amount recorded is incorrect.

"I haven't seen any proof that [the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Office of the Special Trustee] has the capabilities to enforce the trust," she said.

Relevant Links:
Trust Management Improvement Project - http://www.doi.gov/bia/trust/tmip.htm
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com