The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing this morning with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

Jewell, who took over the Interior Department in April, stressed the importance of upholding the federal government's trust obligations to American Indians and Alaska Natives during her opening statement. She said the Interior Department respects the self-governance and self-determination rights of tribal governments.

During the hearing, Jewell discussed the negative impact of sequestration in Indian Country, the Obama administration's support for a legislative land-into-trust fix to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar and a controversial rule to regulate hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands. She also noted that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has developed an administrative fix to the Supreme Court decision in Salazar v. Patchak, another land-into-trust case.

The hearing lasted nearly 3 hours. Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), a member of the Cherokee Nation, did not ask questions about Indian issues but his time was affected by a malfunction in the audio equipment in the committee room.

Audio of the hearing can be found on the Indianz.Com SoundCloud page:

Committee Notice:
Oversight Hearing on “The Department of the Interior Operations, Management, and Rulemakings” (July 17, 2013)

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Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to appear before House panel (7/16)