The U.S. Postal Service remains in a "dire financial situation," a top official said today, prompting concerns about potential closures affecting Indian Country.

Last year, the USPS identified nearly 3,700 facilities that could be closed due to budget constraints. But the agency agreed to hold off while Congress considered funding solutions.

The moratorium, however, ends May 15. So the closures will be back on the table soon, Dean Granholm, the vice president of delivery and post office operations at the USPS, said today at the National Congress of American Indians.

"We expect, on May 15, that we may need to go forward and review post offices for potential closure," Granholm said at the 2012 executive council winter session in Washington, D.C.

The list includes post offices on several reservations in Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. There is one bright spot -- facilities that serve Alaska Native villages and rural areas of the state are off the table.

"The 33 locations that were inaccessible by roads, we've decided not to close," Granhom said of the post offices in Alaska. "The flag will still fly in these communities."

The news was welcomed by tribal leaders. "Some of those are the only way of connecting to the outside world," observed Bill Martin, one of NCAI's area vice-presidents from the the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

In addition to potential closures, the USPS is making other changes that affect Indian Country. The consolidation of a processing plant in Tucson, Arizona, means mail to the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Reservation will be delayed by a day or two.

"Closure of that post office [facility] will have a detrimental effect on tribal communities," Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris told Granholm.

Related Stories:
Indian voting rights an issue with shutdown of USPS facility (01/11)
Iowa Tribe concerned over loss of post office on reservation (08/31)
Opinion: Alaska Native villages hit hardest by Postal Service cuts (8/22)
Native Sun News: Post offices on seven reservations set to close (8/10)
Three Arizona tribes face loss of post offices under closure plan (7/28)