Interior Secretary signs “historic” regulations at Sandia Pueblo
By Deborah Ziff / Journal Staff Writer on Thu, Mar 14, 2013
Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar called it a “historic day” as he signed regulations at Sandia Pueblo Thursday morning that will allow the tribe to lease land without federal approval.
“This important step today on the HEARTH Act brings to closure a sad saga of the United States not trusting Indian country,” Salazar said.
Sandia Pueblo is only the second tribe in the country to develop regulations that will allow it to control economic development without the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, under a law that President Barack Obama signed last year.
“That will mean there will be less bureaucratic red tape, because it will be delegated down to the pueblo itself,” Salazar said.
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, former dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, was also on hand for the signing. Prior to the law taking effect, there was often a backlog for approvals that caused delays in development on reservations, Washburn said.
“It was often lengthy,” he said. “One of the problems was there was a concern that the people who wanted to do the lease would walk away before the lease was actually approved because they didn’t want to wait around for that.”
Sandia Gov. Victor Montoya said the tribe is hoping to prompt more economic development on the southern border of the pueblo and is right now putting in drainage systems.
“Hopefully with this act being signed we’ll get responses from other companies who will hopefully come and do business with us,” he said.
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