Sec. 2. Findings
527 words·~2 min read·
/bill/113/s/2442/rs/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds that— the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has depended on the land of the Tribe and the land-based resources of the Tribe to support its way of life since time immemorial; the Tribe has made supreme and historic sacrifices to repossess and maintain the homeland of the Tribe, including the Reservation of the Tribe in the State of Montana; the Tribe suffers from tremendous social and economic challenges, including a lack of employment opportunities on the Reservation, which can be improved by strengthening the control of the Tribe over the land base, natural resources, and trust funds of the Tribe; the Tribe seeks a variety of resolutions to outstanding legal obstacles that have prevented the Tribe from consolidating subsurface and surface trust ownership on the Reservation; the Tribe and the members of the Tribe are the beneficial owners of more than 95 percent of the surface land of the Reservation and all but approximately 5,000 subsurface acres of the Reservation; the Tribe seeks to obtain ownership of approximately 5,000 subsurface acres on the Reservation that the Tribe does not own as a result of an error made by the United States when the Reservation was expanded in 1900; in 2002, the Tribe agreed by settlement to dismiss a lawsuit against the United States which alleged that the United States failed to protect the Reservation from the impacts of coal development in return for assistance in securing tribal ownership of the subsurface rights described in paragraph
(6)substantially in the form of this Act, and to secure mitigation funding to address the impacts of coal development in areas adjacent to the Reservation, among other conditions; to increase tribal ownership of the surface land, the Tribe has purchased approximately 932 acres of land within the Reservation that were, for various reasons, taken out of trust ownership status; the Tribe has purchased approximately 635 acres of land near Bear Butte, South Dakota, which the Tribe considers sacred ground for the members of the Tribe, as well as for members of other Indian tribes; the Tribe seeks to have the land and subsurface within the Reservation and the Bear Butte land described in this section taken into trust by the United States for the benefit of the Tribe; the Tribe seeks clarification, consistent with the 1999 settlement with the United States, that the principal of the funds arising from the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 1992 ( Public Law 102–374 ; 106 Stat. 1186; 108 Stat. 707), the earnings from which are paid to the Tribe and managed as the Northern Cheyenne Trust Fund by the Office of Special Trustee, may be transferred to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe Permanent Fund, which has historically provided strong returns to the Tribe in direct support of tribal self-determination and to offset limited Federal funding of important tribal governmental services; and if the conveyances of land and funds authorized under this Act are carried out, the Tribe has agreed to waive all legal claims against the United States arising out of the longstanding loss of the subsurface rights and the management of the Northern Cheyenne Trust Fund by the United States.
Connectionstraces to 1
Traces to 1 document
statutes-at-large
2 references not yet in our index
- Pub. L. 102-374
- 108 Stat. 707
Citation graph
cites case law
Cites 3Cited by 0 across 0 sources