Last week, the Department of Interior rejected fee-to-trust applications for eleven tribes . Matthew has linked to the rejection letters elsewhere on this site. In rejecting these applications, the DoI has changed the method by which it will review all fee-to-trust applications under 25 C.F.R. Part 151. On January 3rd, Assistant Secretary of Interior Carl Artman , issued a letter to the BIA’s Regional Directors that established that all future applications will be subjected to a “commutable distance” test. In other words, if a tribe seeks to have land placed into trust, even for non-gaming economic development purposes, it must be within a distance where tribal citizens on the existing reservation can reasonably commute to jobs at the site. This had previously not been the case.
Artman
Off-Reservation Gaming Letters
Indianz has links to the letters in which the Secretary of Interior rejected proposals to take land into trust for gaming purposes.
This is a significant development. Expect litigation, hopefully smart litigation.
Turtle Talk 