Gila River Utility to Utilize Smart Grid Technology

The Gila River Indian Community Utility Authority (GRICUA) on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona will be utilizing smart grid technology to automate its electricity grid, according to a press release issued on May 12 by SmartSynch, a smart grid infrastructure company that is providing GRICUA with the platform.

GRICUA currently provides electric services to about one-fifth of the community’s total meter population, with some of these meters being SmartSynch commercial SmartMeters previously deployed through an existing relationship with a neighboring utility. The rest of the meters are owned by the federal government, which, as part of an agreement with GRICUA, will allow the utility to pursue new customers who want to change service providers, take over service after move-outs and provide service to all new residents and businesses resulting from new development in the community.

SmartSynch will help GRICUA manage the daily collection and delivery of 15-minute interval data from existing SmartSynch commercial SmartMeters via a dedicated Web portal. These meters will be upgraded to include power outage and restoration notification functionality. New SmartMeters will be deployed to any remaining commercial and industrial locations where GRICUA's meters have yet to be automated.

To learn more about smart grid technology, the U.S. Department of Energy has a Web page devoted to the topic: http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm

Yvette Roubideaux Sworn in as IHS Director

The Indian Health Service has a new director. Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H., a member of the Rosebud Sioux, was sworn in on May 12, less than a week after she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

As IHS director, Roubideaux will administer a $4 billion, nationwide program that provides health care to approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Roubideaux previously worked for IHS as a clinical director and medical officer at the San Carlos Service Unit on the San Carlos Apache Indian reservation and as a medical officer at the Hu Hu Kam Memorial Indian Hospital on the Gila River Indian reservation.

She recently served as assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and has conducted extensive research on American Indian health issues.

You can find out more about Roubideaux in the IHS Director’s Corner on the IHS Web site.

Seminole Museum Earns Coveted National Accreditation

It took about five years plus a whole lot of introspection and some big changes, but the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum has received its national accreditation from the American Association of Museums.

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki, with its main branch located on the tribe’s Big Cypress Reservation and a smaller facility in Okalee, became the first tribally operated museum to earn accreditation this spring. The National Museum of the American Indian, operated by the Smithsonian Institute, was accredited this spring as well.

The main facility, which opened in 1997, is the steward of more than 11,000 artifacts and archives that the tribe started collecting more than 20 years. The campus, visited by people from all over the world, is made up of three buildings, totaling over 5,000 square feet of space, and includes four galleries. Read more in American Indian Report.

DOJ Asked to Investigate Tribes' Treatment of Freedmen

Several prominent Democrats, some of them members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate five Indian tribes for allegedly violating the civil rights of Freedmen, African Americans descended from freed slaves who were once owned by or who lived with Indian tribes. 

According to the Associated Press, in a letter dated April 30, lawmakers asked Holder to investigate the “illegal expulsion” of Freedmen for the Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek nations. 

The issue has placed the Obama Administration in the middle of a battle between traditional Democrats -- African Americans and Native Americans. 

Two years ago, the Cherokee Nation voted to amend its constitution to restrict tribal membership to blood descendents and the Congressional Black Caucus tried to restrict federal funding to the tribe -- a move that was not supported by then-candidate Barrack Obama. 

Last May, in a statement issued to the Tulsa World, Obama said:

“Tribal sovereignty must mean that the place to resolve intertribal disputes is the tribe itself. Our nation has learned with tragic results that federal intervention in internal matters of Indian tribes is rarely productive . . . This is not a legacy we want to continue.

However, speaking directly to the Cherokee Nation issue, Obama also expressed opposition to unwarranted tribal disenrollment and described discrimination anywhere as intolerable.

10th Circuit Says Churchrock Navajo Land

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of the Interior that the Churchrock Section 8 uranium project is located in Indian Country and is part of the Navajo Nation.  

The decision means that the Texas based company that wants to operate an underground injection uranium mine there will have to obtain its underground injection control permit from EPA rather the New Mexico Department of the Environment.  

The Navajo Nation enacted a ban on uranium mining and milling in April 2005. 

The 10th Circuit decisions also may apply to other uranium mining states, including Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Read more here.

Native Company Makes a Better Hot Dog

Next week, Native American Natural Foods, will unveil its new product, the Tanka Dog, a healthier hot dog created from buffalo and wild rice. According to the company’s blog, the Tanka Dog, will be larger than a regular hot dog and initially it will only be available to cafes, restaurants and other food services establishments. 

Native American Natural Foods is based on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Founded in 2005 by Karlene Hunter and Mark Tilsen, the company company’s initial product line featured, the Tanka Bar -- an energy bar made from buffalo meat and cranberries -- the Tanka Mix and Tanka Bites. This year, in addition to the Tanka Dog, Native American Natural Foods plans to introduce, the Tanka Bar Spicy Pepper Blend, the Tanka Bites multipack, and the Tanka Bites Spicy Pepper Blend multipack.

NIGC Not Compiling a “Carcieri” List

The National Indian Gaming Commission is not drawing up a list of tribes recognized after 1934, according to NIGC Chairman Philip Hogen. In an interview with Indianz, Hogen said  that although he had expressed a need for a such a list, the NIGC was not leading the effort. Matthew Fletcher, of Turtle Talk argues that it would be a mistake for federal agencies to start compiling such lists, which could be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and could disadvantage tribes that are wrongly identified for the list.  Such a list could be significant in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which restricts the land into trust process to only those tribes that were federally recognized in 1934.