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| Wilson asks for Slowdown of Sandia Land Claim |
December 11, 2000 |
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| Albuquerque, New Mexico—Congresswoman Heather Wilson today asked the Department of Interior to allow enough time for public comment on the proposed settlement over the Sandia Mountain Land Claim. Wilson wrote to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and expressed her concern that a 30-day period stretched over the holiday season is unreasonable. She asked that the comment period be extended 90 days and end on April 5, 2001, rather than on January 5, 2001.
Wilson’s request, on the heels of a similar request by New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, comes after Interior Solicitor John Leshy issued a 30-day deadline for public comment on the location of the eastern boundary of Sandia Pueblo.
“Secretary Babbitt, we all want a fair, complete, permanent solution to this claim. We all want it sooner rather than later. In order to reach such a solution, I am asking that the comment period be extended 90 days and end on April 5, 2001 rather than on January 5, 2001,” Wilson says in her letter to Babbitt. The comment period “occurs during the holiday season - the busiest time of the year for all of us. If the Interior Department wants complete, well-developed comments from those involved, it makes much more sense to extend the comment deadline and allow more time for presentation of information.”
Wilson also cautioned that boundaries to National Forests and Wilderness cannot be changed without Congressional involvement. Attached to Leshy’s letter was a department legal memorandum reversing some of the Department’s Tarr decision. Ralph Tarr was Interior Solicitor in 1988 when he ruled that the Department had no authority to correct erroneous surveys of the boundaries of Indian reservations.
“Mr. Leshy’s December 5th memorandum to you is a stunning reversal of previous Interior Department policy with implications for public lands across this country,” Wilson told Babbitt. “It deserves full public discussion that a 30-day period over the holiday season does not allow.”
“The boundaries of the National Forest, the Wilderness, and the Pueblo were all set by Acts of Congress signed by the President. There is no legitimate way for the Department of the Interior to unilaterally change these boundaries. Any attempt to do so, particularly in the waning days of an Administration, would extend litigation and controversy rather than resolve it,” said Wilson’s letter.
Wilson continues to have concerns about the proposed settlement, which has not been agreed to by all parties involved, including the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, and homeowners in the affected area. The proposed settlement “contains ambiguous language open to various interpretation and contains precedents that would affect Indian land claims all over the United States. A “settlement” among half of the parties to a dispute is not a settlement; it is a proposal and cannot be enacted into legislation.”
Both Wilson and Domenici have met with affected parties throughout the last year to facilitate a workable solution to claims on the west face of the Sandia Mountain. Any settlement or agreement must be approved by Congress before taking effect.
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