WASHINGTON
Members of the Navajo Nation have been cheated out of tens of millions of dollars of trust revenue by the Secretary of the Interior who, in concert with major oil & gas companies, has permitted them to profit from sweetheart deals for rights of way across the Indians' individual trust lands in the West, a court official said yesterday.
Special Master Balaran found that Interior Secretary Gale Norton has violated federal law and breached her trust duties to the Indians by allowing contracts that grossly undervalue individual Navajo trust lands, as much as 20 to 200 times below comparable lands owned by non-Indians and tribes. This allowed the gas companies to run pipelines to California at a fraction of real market costs.
In a 39-page report released yesterday, Balaran said that Interior was valuing Individual Navajo trust lands at between $25 to $40 per rod (each rod is 5.5 yards) for pipeline rights away across their lands. At the same time non-Indians and tribes are paid as much as $170 to $550 more per rod for the same rights of way, he said.
Balaran did not estimate total losses sustained by the Navajo trust beneficiaries as a result of the Interior Secretary's failure but noted that losses are at least $170 to $550 per rod.
Moreover, the special master noted that Interior conveniently has "erased" all relevant information that had been stored in its computer systems and has destroyed or lost all hardcopy trust records. The loss of these records violates federal law, court orders, Interior Department rules and regulations and is a clear breach of trust, Balaran said.
In his report to U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, the master noted:
"At the heart of this [Secretary Norton's trust] duty lies the obligation to ensure that the appraisal process is conducted in a manner both competent and beyond reproach. [T]he Special Master finds the Secretary and her delegates have abrogated these responsibilities. In derogation of Court order, fiduciary duty, federal regulations, and industry standards, the [Interior] Office of Appraisal Services has erased, deleted, and misplaced trust information vital to the valuation of ROWs running across Navajo allotted lands. It is doubtful, as a result whether Navajo allottees are receiving 'fair market value' for
leases encumbering their land."
Dennis Gingold, lead counsel for the individual Indian trust beneficiaries in a case involving the failure of the United States government to account for tens of billions of trust funds generated from lands that the government has held in trust for more than 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries, observed:
"This misconduct further confirms Judge Lamberth's finding that Norton is unfit. For Norton to approve contracts that cheat Navajo trust beneficiaries and to permit critical trust records to be destroyed is unconscionable. By allowing the destruction these trust records, Norton has ensured that a complete and accurate accounting is impossible."
"How much more harm must Indian trust beneficiaries endure before control of the Individual Indian Trust is removed from this unfit Interior Secretary and trust management finally is placed in the hands of an honest and competent receiver? This scandal dwarfs Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing."
Balaran's findings are as a result of his March 6, 2003 site visit to BIA offices in Window Rock, Ariz., and Gallup, N.M.
Indian Trust
The complete report is available at http://www.indiantrust.com
To view the latest information concerning this case, go to: http://www.indiantrust.com
Members of the Navajo Nation have been cheated out of tens of millions of dollars of trust revenue by the Secretary of the Interior who, in concert with major oil & gas companies, has permitted them to profit from sweetheart deals for rights of way across the Indians' individual trust lands in the West, a court official said yesterday.
Special Master Balaran found that Interior Secretary Gale Norton has violated federal law and breached her trust duties to the Indians by allowing contracts that grossly undervalue individual Navajo trust lands, as much as 20 to 200 times below comparable lands owned by non-Indians and tribes. This allowed the gas companies to run pipelines to California at a fraction of real market costs.
In a 39-page report released yesterday, Balaran said that Interior was valuing Individual Navajo trust lands at between $25 to $40 per rod (each rod is 5.5 yards) for pipeline rights away across their lands. At the same time non-Indians and tribes are paid as much as $170 to $550 more per rod for the same rights of way, he said.
Balaran did not estimate total losses sustained by the Navajo trust beneficiaries as a result of the Interior Secretary's failure but noted that losses are at least $170 to $550 per rod.
Moreover, the special master noted that Interior conveniently has "erased" all relevant information that had been stored in its computer systems and has destroyed or lost all hardcopy trust records. The loss of these records violates federal law, court orders, Interior Department rules and regulations and is a clear breach of trust, Balaran said.
In his report to U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, the master noted:
"At the heart of this [Secretary Norton's trust] duty lies the obligation to ensure that the appraisal process is conducted in a manner both competent and beyond reproach. [T]he Special Master finds the Secretary and her delegates have abrogated these responsibilities. In derogation of Court order, fiduciary duty, federal regulations, and industry standards, the [Interior] Office of Appraisal Services has erased, deleted, and misplaced trust information vital to the valuation of ROWs running across Navajo allotted lands. It is doubtful, as a result whether Navajo allottees are receiving 'fair market value' for
leases encumbering their land."
Dennis Gingold, lead counsel for the individual Indian trust beneficiaries in a case involving the failure of the United States government to account for tens of billions of trust funds generated from lands that the government has held in trust for more than 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries, observed:
"This misconduct further confirms Judge Lamberth's finding that Norton is unfit. For Norton to approve contracts that cheat Navajo trust beneficiaries and to permit critical trust records to be destroyed is unconscionable. By allowing the destruction these trust records, Norton has ensured that a complete and accurate accounting is impossible."
"How much more harm must Indian trust beneficiaries endure before control of the Individual Indian Trust is removed from this unfit Interior Secretary and trust management finally is placed in the hands of an honest and competent receiver? This scandal dwarfs Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing."
Balaran's findings are as a result of his March 6, 2003 site visit to BIA offices in Window Rock, Ariz., and Gallup, N.M.
Indian Trust
The complete report is available at http://www.indiantrust.com
To view the latest information concerning this case, go to: http://www.indiantrust.com