Panel to look at changing Indian royalty oversight

HELENA — Now that a $3.4 billion settlement has been approved in a lawsuit over past mismanagement of Native American land royalties by the federal government, a panel is being formed to recommend changes to ensure it doesn't happen again.

The U.S. Department of the Interior is taking nominees over the next month to serve on the five-member Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform.

Its formation comes after a judge last month approved a $3.4 billion settlement over claims that U.S. officials over the last century stole or squandered billions in land royalties meant for American Indians in exchange for oil, gas, grazing and other leases. The beneficiaries are estimated to be 500,000 or more American Indians.

The settlement was the result of a 15-year class-action lawsuit brought by Browning, Mont., resident and Blackfeet tribal member Elouise Cobell.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement that the commission will help evaluate how the department manages and administers its trust responsibilities to American Indians. The commission will have two years to make recommendations.

Those recommendations aren't binding, but Salazar will take them seriously, department spokeswoman Kate Kelly said in an email Friday.

The Interior Department is looking for panel members who have experience in trust, financial, asset and natural resource management, along with people experienced with federal budgets and Indian matters.

Keith Harper, an attorney for the Cobell and the other plaintiffs, said Cobell will not seek a spot on the panel, but he said people impacted by trust management should be represented.

"We don't want to limit it just to politicians and bureaucrats," Harper said. "They should have people that are smart and know about the problems, and these are the landowners."

Specifically, Harper said, he believes the panel should look at the department's responsiveness to beneficiaries and how they provide beneficiaries with information about their assets. The department also needs to ensure that land leasing is based on fair-market value and that deals for Indian property are comparable to those made for non-Indian property.

"This is an opportunity for the department to take a step back, to ask an important question as to what this system should look like in 10 years, what should it look like in 20 years," Harper said.