AUBURN -- A federal draft assessment on potential impacts of putting local land into trust is inadequate, and those who wrote it should go back to square one, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday.
During a press conference with local officials, Schumer spoke out against the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs' draft impact statement on a proposal to place approximately 130 acres of Seneca and Cayuga County land into federal trust.
During his talk, Schumer said the impact statement -- which says effects on the local environment, infrastructure and economy would be negligible at most -- ignores environmental and economic consequences that would come about if the land is put into trust.
"You'd think they were examining a different place," he said to a group of local business people and government officials at the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce.
"They showed no understanding of what is going on in this county," Schumer said.
For more on this story, read Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.
During his talk, Schumer said the impact statement -- which says effects on the local environment, infrastructure and economy would be negligible at most -- ignores environmental and economic consequences that would come about if the land is put into trust.
"You'd think they were examining a different place," he said to a group of local business people and government officials at the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce.
"They showed no understanding of what is going on in this county," Schumer said.
For more on this story, read Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.
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Sepeterman wrote on Jul 1, 2009 6:47 AM:
So what is Senator Schumer going to do about this “draft” impact statement? If he, Congressman Arcuri, and Congressman McHugh are incapable of seeing that federal law regarding their wards, the Indian tribes, is enforced, how are they going to get the BIA to go back to square one? They weren’t able to talk the ridiculously one-sided impact statement for the Oneidas’ land-into-trust back to “square one.”
For over a decade, the Oneida tribe purchased land on the open market and unilaterally declared it sovereign Indian land. The BIA, the DOI, and our federal representatives knew that what the Oneidas were doing wasn’t legal, but they all did nothing.
Hello Senator Schumer, the whole process is unconstitutional; it doesn’t matter how it’s done. Where does Congress, let alone some bureaucrat in the Department of Interior, get the constitutional authority to deprive a state of legislative jurisdiction over lands within its borders that are not and never have been federal public lands without that state’s consent? Please Chuck, tell us what part of the Constitution of the United States allows this to occur.
Profoundly flawed federal Indian policies are among the many serious problems facing this country, but we aren’t going to see any solution to these problems as long as the people keep re-electing do-nothing representatives. "