River compensation bill advances

FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2002

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Thursday approved a bill to compensate the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska for damage resulting from the construction of dams on the Missouri River.

The bill sets up a trust fund for the tribes. For the Yankton Sioux, a $23 million fund for 2,851 acres of lost land and for the Santee Sioux, $4.8 million for 539 acres.

The bill is in addition to several passed in recent years to compensate other tribe for the massive Pick-Sloan water project of the 1950s. The Crow Creek Sioux, the Lower Brule Sioux, the Standing Rock Sioux, the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, and the Cheyenne River Sioux have all been compensated through Congressional bills.

The Cheyenne River compensation was the largest and the tribe received a $290 million trust fund for economic development purposes.

Get the Story:
Senate OKs Compensation For Tribal Land Lost To Flooding (The Yankton Press and Dakotan 3/22)

Get the Bill:
A bill to provide equitable compensation to the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska (S.434)

Related Stories:
Bill to compensate tribes for river losses (3/02)
Bill would put $290M in tribe's fund (9/14)