"Praising Sen. John Barrasso for his so-called efforts to "improve" the $3.4 billion settlement of the Cobell case -- as Kimberly Craven does in her recently published opinion -- is like honoring Hurricane Katrina for what it did to the city of New Orleans.

What she leaves out altogether is the fact that the senator’s proposal would kill the Cobell settlement and deny to 500,000 individual Native Americans a measure of justice for generations of abuse by the federal government’s mismanagement of their trust lands and assets. If the settlement agreement is materially modified in any way, the agreement itself states that it "shall be null and void in its entirety." As the lead plaintiff in this litigation, I along with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Attorney General Eric Holder have each warned that the senator’s proposed amendment would kill the settlement.

Notwithstanding the clamoring of a few, the Cobell settlement has received overwhelming support among individual Indians, including tens of thousands of individual Indian trust beneficiaries in Wyoming, Montana and elsewhere throughout the West. Tribes concerned about the best interests of their members have also strongly supported the settlement. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the largest association of tribes in this country, expressly rejected Sen. Barrasso’s proposed amendment and called for immediate enactment of the Cobell settlement authorization.

Ms. Craven’s main objection is that the settlement supposedly lacks transparency. Where has she been? There has been extensive public discussion and debate, including for example: public hearings before both the House and the Senate; hours of public debate by members of Congress; over 30 listening meetings with myself, our attorneys and class members across Indian Country discussing the agreement; 12 open letters to Indian Country answering questions about the agreement; and even the development of a website at www.cobellsettlement.com with a "frequently asked questions" section and every settlement document available for public review."

Get the Story:
Elouise Cobell: Barrasso efforts would scuttle Indian settlement (The Billings Gazette 7/13)

Cobell Settlement Documents:
Agreement | Press Release | Q&A | Audio

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