AG in D.C. urging fix for land-taking rules

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called Wednesday for an overhaul of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs' land-annexation process.

Testifying in Washington before the House of Representatives' Committee on Natural Resources, Blumenthal urged defeat of two bills that would reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.

The bills, which mirror one offered by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, would reverse the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last February in Carcieri v. Salazar, which found that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 authorized the government to take land into trust for only those tribes that were federally recognized at the time the law was enacted.

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri had filed suit against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar over land taken into trust for the Narragansett Tribe of Charlestown, R.I.

"I urge the committee to take no further action regarding the (Supreme Court) decision - while reforming the process for taking land into trust for pre-1934 tribes and requiring congressional approval for post-1934 tribes," Blumenthal testified. "Even as it leaves Carcieri v. Salazar in place, Congress should reform and clarify existing laws and procedures for taking land into trust."

Blumenthal, in a phone interview later in the day, said he testified on behalf of the more than 20 state attorneys general who filed a friends-of-the-court brief in the Carcieri case. In arguing for reform of the land-into-trust process, he said he referred to his involvement in a 1990s dispute between the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the towns of Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston as "Exhibit A."

The tribe, he said, "threw three neighboring Connecticut towns into an uproar when it produced a map showing all the property it wished to take into trust. Significant portions of all three towns would have been absorbed into the (tribe's) reservation, permanently removing them from the tax rolls and local land use and environmental restrictions."

After years of litigation, the tribe withdrew its application.

Decisions about taking land into trust should remain with Congress rather than an appointed official, "ensuring that state and local communities have a voice and real input in the process," Blumenthal told the committee.

Last month, the top elected officials in Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston made similar arguments in a letter urging Connecticut's senators to oppose the Dorgan bill.

Rep. Michael Arcuri, a Democrat whose central New York district includes the Oneida Indian Nation, also testified against the bills at Wednesday's hearing, Blumenthal said, while tribal representatives and Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who sponsored one of the bills, spoke in favor of them.

Apprised of Blumenthal's testimony, the Mohegans issued a statement from Lynn Malerba, chairwoman of the tribal council:

"Although the (Carcieri) decision had no impact on the Mohegan Tribe, we agree with the leaders of the two congressional committees of jurisdiction that the decision made in Carcieri v. Salazar was overly narrow and is deserving of a legislative fix.

"Mr. Blumenthal's notion of placing tribal recognition and the taking of land into trust solely in the hands of Congress seems to invite politics into a process which was meant to be fair and apolitical."

b.hallenbeck@theday.com