Secretary of the
Interior James Watt argued that the Sampsel Report submitted October 21, 1982,
some 15 months late, satisfied Interior and Justice Depts. obligations under
Section 2 of Public Law 96-217. Secretary Watt’s Sampsel Report contained only
one legislative proposal which relates to approximately 50% of the total number
of one class of claims-the Old Age Assistance claims, which remain unknown and unresolved.
Senator Cohen
noted: “If the Reagan Administration Interior and Justice Depts. are allowed to
succeed in their plan, as set out in the Sampsel Report, the remainder of
17,000 Indian claims covering 10,000,000 acres of allotted Indian lands,
minerals and resources on Indian reservations nationwide will be willed out of
existence by the Interior and Justice Depts.” Unidentified unresolved Indian claims
in mineral rights, water rights and pollution of Indian lands and water are not
mentioned in the Sampsel Report.
Senator Cohen Chairman of the Senate Select Committee
on Indian Affairs in his remarks introducing legislation to extend the statute
of limitations yet another time stated: “I do not agree with the conclusion of
the Department of the Interior in its communication to this committee on June
25, that legislation to address the old-age assistance category of claims will
bring the Government into substantial compliance with the requirements of P.L.
96-217; that the Department of the Interior in consultation with the Department
of Justice submit to the Congress legislative proposals to resolve these
outstanding Indian claims.-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.168-169
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