Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

By Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. DORGAN, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. INOUYE):

S. 881. A bill to provide for equitable compensation to the Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation for the use of tribal land for the production of hydropower by the Grand Coulee Dam, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with my colleague from Washington State, Senator MURRAY, and former Senate Indian Affairs Committee chairman, Senator INOUYE of Hawaii. The bill I submit today, which is identical to S. 1438 which passed the Senate unanimously on November 19, 2004, provides an equitable settlement of a longer standing injustice to the Spokane Tribe of Indians.

For more than half a century, the Columbia Basin Project has made an extraordinary contribution to this Nation. It helped pull the economy out of the Great Depression. It provided the electricity that produced aluminum required for airplanes and weapons that ensured our national security. The project continues to produce enormous revenues for the United States. It is a key component of the agricultural economy in eastern Washington and plays a pivotal role in the electric systems serving the entire western United States.

However, these benefits have come at a direct cost to tribal property that became inundated when the U.S. Government built the Grand Coulee Dam. Before dam construction, the free flowing Columbia River supported robust and plentiful salmon runs and provided for virtually all of the subsistence needs of the Spokane Tribe. After construction, the Columbia and its Spokane River tributary flooded tribal communities, schools, and roads, and the remaining stagnant water continues to erode reservation lands today.

The legislation Senators INOUYE, MURRAY and I are introducing today is similar to P.L. 103-436, which was enacted in 1994 to provide just compensation to the neighboring Confederated Colville Tribes. This bill would provide the Spokane Tribe of Indians with compensation for the use of its lands for the production of hydropower by the Grand Coulee Dam under a formula based in part on that by which the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation were compensated in the Colville Tribes' settlement legislation in 1994. The Spokane Tribe lost lands equivalent in area to 39.4 percent of the lands lost to Colville Tribes a settlement based solely on this factor would result in a proportional payment of 39.4 percent to the Spokane Tribe. This was the formula basis for similar Spokane settlement legislation introduced in the Senate and House in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congress. However, based upon good faith, honorable and extensive negotiations by and between the Spokane Tribe, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Bureau of Reclamation the National Park Service during the past year, this percentage has been reduced to 29 percent in recognition of the fact that certain lands taken for the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam would be restored to the Spokane Tribe under the terms of this legislation. The legislation reserves a perpetual right, power, and easement over the land transferred to carry out the Columbia Basin Project under the Columbia Basin Project Act, 16 U.S.C. 835 et seq.

The United States has a trust responsibility to maintain and protect the integrity of all tribal lands with its borders. When Federal actions physically or economically impact or harm, our Nation has a legal responsibility to address and compensate the damaged parties. Unfortunately, despite countless effort, half a century has passed without justice to the Spokane people.

In hearings before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on October 2, 2003, Robert A. Robinson, Managing Director, Natural Resources and Environment, General Accounting Office testified:

A reasonable case can be made to settle the Spokane Tribe's case along the lines of the Colville settlement--a one-time payment from the U.S. Treasury for past lost payments for water power values and annual payments primarily from Bonneville [BPA]. Bonneville continues to earn revenues from the Spokane reservation lands used to generate hydropower. However, unlike the Colville Tribes, the Spokane Tribe does not benefit from these revenues. The Spokane Tribe does not benefit because it missed its filing opportunity before the Indian Claims Commission. At that time it was pursuing other avenues to win payments for the value of its land for hydropower. These efforts would ultimately fail. Without congressional action, it seems unlikely that a settlement for the Spokane Tribe will occur.

The time has come for the Federal Government to finally meet its fiduciary responsibility for converting the Spokane Tribe's resource to its own benefit. Senators INOUYE, MURRAY and I believe that the legislation we are proposing today will finally bring a fair and honorable closure to these matters. We are pleased that similar bipartisan legislation was also introduced today in the U.S House of Representatives.

I look forward to working with the Indian Affairs Committee and Senate colleagues as this legislation proceeds through the Congress.

http://thomas.loc.gov/