Good Morning NUNAverse,
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation to extend a year-end deadline for Alaska Native Corporations to use federal COVID-19 relief funds. But it isn’t the same bill that earlier passed the Senate – the House has not considered the bill the Senate passed in October. Karina Borger, a spokesperson for Senator Lisa Murkowski, said Alaska’s congressional delegation was “working every angle possible” to get an extension in place. The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled Alaska Native Corporations were entitled to funds, but the executive director of the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association has said that some corporations have yet to receive funds and others face challenges distributing money they have received. The extensions proposed are for a year. The House bill would push the deadline to December 30, 2022. The Senate bill called for pushing it to December 31, 2022.
A federal panel has approved renaming a Colorado peak after a Cheyenne woman who facilitated relations between tribes and settlers in the early 19th century, as part of a broader campaign to replace derogatory place names across the United States. Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, which is pronounced “mess-taw-HAY,” bears the name of and honors an influential translator also known as Owl Woman who mediated between Native peoples and white traders and soldiers in what is now southern Colorado. The renaming of what was known as Squaw Mountain, 30 miles west of Denver, comes after Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland formally declared “squaw” a derogatory term in November and said she is taking steps to remove it from federal government use and to rename other derogatory place names.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) named Chris James (Eastern Band Cherokee), CEO and president of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development to serve on its Council on Underserved Communities. James was named to the Council by SBA’s Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. The Council on Underserved Communities was reconvened by the Biden administration and is tasked with furthering the equity priorities of the administration by making programmatic and policy recommendations to Administrator Guzman to increase access and opportunity across SBA’s programs and initiatives to help level the playing field for all of America’s entrepreneurs.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Law:
Two Non-Native Artists Charged With Faking Tribal Citizenship To Sell Their Art As Native Made
Native News Online, December 11
The U.S. Attorney’s Office – Western Washington has charged two non-Native artists in separate cases of selling Native art under false pretenses in two different art galleries in the popular Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, Wash. The two men are charged with violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) by representing themselves as Native American artists, when they have no tribal membership or heritage, according to U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Lewis Anthony Rath, 52, of Maple Falls, and Jerry Chris Van Dyke, 67, also known as Jerry Witten, of Seattle, appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday. The charges stem from investigations made after two separate complaints were to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.
House Approves Extension Of Native Corporation Relief Funds
AP News, Becky Bohrer, December 10
The U.S. House has passed legislation to extend a year-end deadline for Alaska Native corporations and tribes to use federal coronavirus relief funds. But it isn’t the same bill that earlier passed the Senate. The House bill was introduced by Arizona Rep. Tom O’Halleran, a Democrat, and Alaska Rep. Don Young, a Republican. Kaitlin Hooker, a O’Halleran spokesperson, said the bill now goes to the Senate. Hooker noted the House has not considered the bill the Senate passed in October. Karina Borger, a spokesperson for Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said Alaska’s congressional delegation was “working every angle possible” to get an extension in place. The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled Alaska Native corporations were entitled to funds, but the executive director of the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association has said that some corporations have yet to receive funds and others face challenges distributing money they have received. Tribes began receiving funds in the spring of 2020. A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office cited issues with the rollout, including guidance from the Department of the Treasury for use of funds that changed over time. The extensions proposed are for a year. The House bill would push the deadline to Dec. 30, 2022, according to O’Halleran’s office. The Senate bill called for pushing it to Dec. 31, 2022, according to Alaska’s U.S. senators.
MMIW:
BIA Launches New Missing And Murdered Indigenous Person’s Website Dedicated To Solving Cases
Native News Online, December 11
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) announced on Friday the launch of its new website dedicated to solving missing and murdered cases in Indian Country. The website seeks to draw attention to unresolved missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases the BIA, Office of Justice Services, Missing and Murdered Unit (MMU) is working on and invites the public to help law enforcement solve those cases. Friday’s announcement came as Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) participated in a panel on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Crisis at the Western Governors Association Winter Meeting at the Lowes Coronado Bay Resort, in Coronado, Calif. The new site provides detailed case information that can be easily shared, and three pathways to submit important tips and other case information that may help investigators with the detection or investigation of an offense committed in Indian Country.
Other:
The National Center’s CEO Chris James Named To SBA Council On Underserved Communities
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, December 11
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) named Chris James (Eastern Band Cherokee), CEO and president of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (The National Center) to serve on its Council on Underserved Communities. James was named to the Council by SBA’s Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. The Council on Underserved Communities was reconvened by the Biden administration and is tasked with furthering the equity priorities of the administration by making programmatic and policy recommendations to Administrator Guzman to increase access and opportunity across SBA’s programs and initiatives to help level the playing field for all of America’s entrepreneurs.
Cherokee Nation’s Efforts In Language Preservation Honored By First Lady
Native News Online, Chuck Hoskin Jr., December 10
On a truly historic afternoon in early December, we hosted First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on the Cherokee Nation Reservation to review our unique language development programs. We were honored to have this recognition from the highest levels of the U.S. government for our efforts to preserve and grow the Cherokee language. The visiting dignitaries heard a performance in Cherokee by the Cherokee National Youth Choir, toured our Cherokee Immersion School, spoke with students and teachers at the school, and learned more about our many language programs. At the Cherokee Immersion School, a new generation of youth offers hope. They are studying to become the newest links in that unbroken chain. We owe it to them, and to every ancestor who came before us, to make sure they succeed. Our sacred mission is to revitalize the Cherokee language. With the Durbin Feeling Language Act proposed by Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I and approved by the Council of the Cherokee Nation in 2019, we have dramatically expanded our language department. This act put $16 million of tribal funds into language perpetuation.
Tribes Claim BLM Violated Multiple Federal Laws In Permitting Thacker Pass Lithium Mine In Nevada
Native News Online, Kelsey Turner, December 10
On Nov. 29, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony (RSIC) and Northern Paiute group Atsa Koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain) filed a first amended complaint against the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The complaint, part of a lawsuit filed against BLM in February 2021, alleges that the bureau violated five federal laws when it issued permits to the Lithium Nevada company for a lithium mine in northern Nevada’s Thacker Pass. Lithium Nevada, part of Canada-based Lithium Americas, intends to start mining there next year. To the RSIC and the People of Red Mountain, Thacker Pass is sacred land, home to traditional foods, medicines, and ceremonies. But to the extractive industry, it’s the U.S.’s largest known source of lithium, an element used in rechargeable electric car batteries. The RSIC has members, employees, and residents with direct cultural ties to Thacker Pass, RSIC chairman Arlan Melendez and Cultural Resource Program director Michon Eben said in an emailed statement to Native News Online.
Native Americans’ Farming Practices May Help Feed A Warming World
The Washington Post, Samuel Gilbert, December 10
Indigenous peoples have known for millennia to plant under the shade of the mesquite and paloverde trees that mark the Sonoran Desert here, shielding their crops from the intense sun and reducing the amount of water needed. The modern-day version of this can be seen in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, where a canopy of elevated solar panels helps to protect rows of squash, tomatoes and onions. Even on a November afternoon, with the temperature climbing into the 80s, the air under the panels stays comfortably cool. Such adaptation is central to the research underway at Biosphere 2, a unique center affiliated with the University of Arizona that’s part of a movement aimed at reimagining and remaking agriculture in a warming world. In the Southwest, projects are looking to plants and farming practices that Native Americans have long used as potential solutions to growing worries over future food supplies. At the same time, they are seeking to build energy resilience.
US Approves Indigenous Name Change For Colorado Mountain
AP News, December 10
A federal panel has approved renaming a Colorado peak after a Cheyenne woman who facilitated relations between white settlers and Native American tribes in the early 19th century, part of a broader campaign to replace derogatory place names across the United States. Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, which is pronounced “mess-taw-HAY,” bears the name of and honors an influential translator also known as Owl Woman who mediated between Native Americans and white traders and soldiers in what is now southern Colorado. The renaming of what was known as Squaw Mountain, 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Denver, comes after U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland formally declared “squaw” a derogatory term in November and said she is taking steps to remove it from federal government use and to rename other derogatory place names. Haaland is the nation’s first Native American Cabinet official.
Energy Fuel Resources Says EPA Letter Calling Toxic Waste Near Ute Mountain Ute “Unacceptable” Will Not Effect Operations
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, November 10
Citizens of the Ute Mountain Ute community of White Mesa, Utah, have long been concerned about contamination from the uranium mill three miles away. They say it is desecrating sacred sites and the tribes’ cultural resources. That fear was realized last week, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that the White Mesa Mill—the only active uranium mill in the country— was not properly storing it’s waste. While it should have been storing its uranium waste submerged in liquid to reduce radio emission, the federal agency found that a portion of the waste was exposed to the air and emitting ten times the emissions than the covered waste, according to a letter penned by the EPA enforcement branch to the company who owns the mill. As a result, the EPA issued the mill an “unacceptability notice” last week, meaning the White Mesa Mill can no longer accept radioactive waste materials from certain Superfund sites, a program to clean up contaminated sites created by Congress.