United States. Cong. Senate. Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Equitable Compensation Settlement Act (HR 1797 PCS). 109th Cong., 27 July 2005. Washington: GPO, 2005. (reviewed by Adam Kendall)
Summary
This bill, currently in consideration in the United States Senate (it was placed on the Senate Calendar on 27 July 2005), provides monetary compensation to the Spokane Tribe of Indians for the losses incurred by them with the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. Originally, both the Spokane and Colville tribes were given compensation for the use of their land and for the losses that they incurred by not being able to develop any further hydroelectric projects on that stretch of the river. However, since the project was federalized just before its commencement, they were not allowed a share of the profits from hydroelectric generation, as they would have been if it had been a non-federal project, and therefore subject to the Federal Power Act. The compensation awarded to the tribes, by a 1940 Act as a settlement to the tribes' claims, was $4,700 to the Spokane tribe and $63,000 to the Colville Indians.
Following litigation which proceeded into the mid-1940s, the Colville Tribes were offered a settlement, which was subsequently authorized by Congress, and accepted by tribal representatives. This settlement provided a sum of $53 million for past use of the Colville land, and payments of $15.25 million annually, to be adjusted based on revenues from the sale of electric power. This substantial sum was never realized by the Spokane Tribe, which did not file a claim within the statute of limitations (five years; imposed by the Indian Claims Commission Act).
Accordingly, this legislation provides a final settlement to the Spokane Tribe of Indians, based on the settlement reached with the Colville Tribes in 1946. Since the Spokane tribal acreage taken for the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam equals approximately 39 percent of that taken from the Colville Tribes, the settlement awards approximately that percentage of the Colville settlement to the Spokane Tribe.
The dollar amounts, which are laid out in the most recent version of the bill, referred to the Senate after being approved by the House of Representatives on 25 July 2005, are that, in the fiscal year 2006, the Tribes would be awarded $17.8 million for past damages, with an additional $12.8 million awarded for each of the four following fiscal years, for a total of $69 million over the next five fiscal years. Further, the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration is ordered to pay, each year, a sum of 29 percent of the computed annual payment due to the Colville Tribes, under the earlier Act. This provision, and the BPA payments, are limited to a term of 25 years from the enactment of the bill. The initial payments, and the annual payments from the BPA, are to be accepted by the Spokane Tribe (with some limitations, including the devotion of $5 million to a Cultural Resource Repository and Interpretive Center), with the stipulation that the United States is given full rights to operate and maintain both the Columbia Basin Project (including the Grand Coulee Dam, among others) and the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
Critique
As a primary source, the bill is important to understanding the problems which the Spokane Tribe has faced in reaching a settlement. The Section II outlines the “findings” of the Congress, including many concessions about the construction and operation of the Grand Coulee Dam which favor the Tribe's claims. The settlement reached, according to the supporting documents and speeches recorded in the Congressional Record, seems to be agreed to by the Tribe, and was unanimously referred out of committee in the House, with some hesitation around the sunset clause.
This clause, which maintains the BPA payments for only 25 years, was agreed to by the Tribe and the Congress under the stipulation and agreement that before the sunset period, the Tribe would be free to ask for a review and possible amendment by Congress, which would extend the time period under which payments would be made from the BPA. Additionally, the Act transfers property rights from the Department of the Interior to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with the stipulation that certain parcels of land (those comprising the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers, and the east bank of the Spokane River) would be held in trust for the use and benefit of the Spokane Tribe.
Overall, the settlement seems to have been reached late, but nonetheless shows a sense of justice in finally awarding to the Spokane Tribe what has seemingly been due to them since the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. It is merely a way of rectifying a side-step maneuver that the Federal government made in federalizing the project and denying the tribes proper compensation for their resources.
Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
HC 441: Science Colloquium, Columbia River Ecology
Fall term, 2005
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