BIA won't acquire surplus land for Narragansett Tribe
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Filed Under:
Trust
After seeking a number of extensions, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs has dropped efforts to acquire surplus
U.S. Navy property for
the
Narragansett
Tribe of Rhode Island.
In a letter to the Navy, the BIA says it doesn't have enough time to obtain an appraisal of the land or estimate the costs of remediation. The BIA also says it can't accept the land from the Navy in "as-is" condition.
The letter apparently did not say whether the land be acquired for the tribe in light of the
U.S. Supreme Court
decision in
Carcieri
v. Salazar. The court said the tribe can't follow the land-into-trust process because it wasn't "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.
It's also not clear whether the BIA still plans to acquire the land for the
Aquinnah Wampanoag
Tribe of Massachusetts. The tribe did not gain federal recognition until the 1980s.
Get the Story:
Narragansett Indians still seeking Navy land in RI
(The Providence Journal 12/8)
Related Stories:
BIA seeks another extension for surplus land
(8/19)
BIA granted extension to
acquire surplus land (7/24)
BIA seeks
more time to acquire land for tribes (7/14)
Narragansett Tribe seeks surplus Navy property
(06/10)
Tribes interested in surplus Navy
properties (4/10)
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