Testimony of Tribal Chairwoman Robyn Burdette
Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, Nevada
United States Senate Committee on Environment
and Pubic Works
Subcommittee on Transportation,
Infrastructure, and Nuclear Safety
Thank you, for the opportunity to speak on the issue of transportation
in Indian Country and in Nevada.
The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe is a small geographically isolated tribe located in the extreme upper northwest portion of Nevada. Bureau of Land Management and Sheldon U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge surround the reservation, in addition to the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Natural Area. The main road system on the reservation consists primarily of two BIA routes, which link to three county routes. The majority of the land adjacent to the reservation is generally used for activities such as hunting, fishing, hiking and camping. This area is a very high use recreational area. The Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Act of 2000 gives national conservation area and wilderness designation to nearly 1.2 million acres of public lands in the vicinity and adjacent to the reservation.
In 1999, I was chosen to sit on the Transportation Equity Act for the
Twenty-First Century Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for the Indian Reservation
Roads Program. My tribe is part of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs Western Region located in Phoenix, Arizona with 54
other tribes from Utah, Nevada and Arizona.
In Nevada there are 29 individual tribes, each responsible to provide
for the self-governance and safety of their communities. Well-constructed and maintained roads are
essential for economic development of Indian communities, as businesses cannot
occur without roads to provide access for customers and supplies. Well-maintained roads are essential for
public safety of the local citizens and people traveling through the area. Indian children must travel -- often for
great distances -- on Indian roads.
Police and medical vehicles rely upon good roads to provide public safety
and emergency medical services. Roads
have been placed in the top ten budget priorities for the past two fiscal years
by the BIA Western Region Tribes.
Road Maintenance -
The maintenance account for the BIA WRO provides funds to tribal governments to
maintain roads and bridges on Indian lands.
The current level of funding provides approximately one-fifth of the
total of funds needed. The budget would
have to be quadrupled to provide adequate level of funding. As an example - the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe
gets $3,300.00 for road maintenance. With extreme snow conditions and heavy
equipment costs this provides a fraction of the cost necessary to maintain our
roads on a full time basis. A snow cat
costs $70,000.00. The tribe operates
its maintenance program with a 1950 Huber grader which breaks down on a regular
basis, parts, if found, cost between $1,000.00 - $2,000.00. A replacement grader would be
$100,000.00. The road maintenance
program is not in the IRR program, however, to build new roads with inadequate
maintenance, creates a loss in capital improvement, and additional loss of
precious dollars. The refuge roads
program makes an
allowance for
maintenance costs, perhaps, and I say this cautiously, the IRR program should
be evaluated to allow for an increase in funding for Road Operation
&Maintenance. The BIA O & M
corresponding budget should be targeted for an increase.
The rulemaking committee for IRR was established to provide procedures
and a relative need allocation formula. The committee was comprised of small,
medium and large tribes across the nation, many with no prior experience and
some with many years of experience and expertise in transportation.
This was the first time nationally that the tribes saw and participated
in the development of a relative needs formula. The committee meetings provided an educational overview into the
Indian Reservation Roads program that some of us have never had. The tribal representatives held true to
their task of participating in the IRR Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on a
government-to-government basis in recognition of Indian self-governance and
self-determination. Although a monumental task, procedures and the development
of a single formula, based on the inadequate funding allocated to the IRR
program, was completed. What has yet to
be demonstrated, but may be possible, is that problems in getting a project may
not be entirely due to funding but the process of getting the funding/project.
Some of the
inequities found within the IRR program for tribes are:
-- lack of adequate funding
-- concern that too many programs are being placed within the Indian
Reservation Roads Construction Program like:
Ø
Indian
Reservation Roads Bridge Program
Ø
Transit
Ø
Obligation Limitation
Ø
6% BIA takedown
The relative needs formula is based upon the total population; vehicle
miles traveled, and cost to improve.
Considering these factors, the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe is currently at
a disadvantage because of poor qualifiers in the relative needs formula
including a low population, low average daily traffic, and lack of
transportation planning reports (identifying cost to improve estimates, roadway
inventories, ADT, etc). As a result,
funding for the tribe based on the relative need formula has proven inadequate,
especially for routine maintenance, and improvement of the reservation roadway
system. The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe
has historically received no funding for road construction.
The proposed relative needs formula includes a capacity base funding
and a high priority funding category, however, funding is based on population,
this seems to create a pool where low population tribes only receive
insufficient funding to operate a transportation program. It also creates a pool whereby the BIA can
take from to supply funding for a "construction project" that may not
be yours. Funding should be allocated
based on the entire project to its completion.
The proposed high priority projects, well intended to address funding
for tribes that have never received funding for a construction project, will
likely struggle to receive a approved construction project due to the poor
qualifiers mentioned above. The
inclusion of the emergency/disaster projects will further exclude a tribe from
meeting transportation needs. Because
of insufficient funding the Bureau of Indian Affairs currently prioritizes IRR
funds to build roads with respect to those tribes who the BIA qualifies as
having unsafe roads or bridges.
The Summit Lake Tribe has generated a relative needs share between
$19,000.00 to $30,000.00 per year and has only twice received funding through
2% planning not through its relative needs portion.
In 1999, the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe's roadway system was flooded; all
access was stopped. Many travelers were
stranded or attempted to circumnavigate the flooded section, (which was the
sole access from north to south), and began to cut new roadways into the
surrounding areas, many of which consist of wetland habitat. This situation results in extreme
environmental degradation and safety concerns. When the tribe sought assistance through the Emergency Relief
for Federally Owned Roads program, bureaucratic red tape and process stifled
the tribe. For two years the effects of
this flood impacted the tribe and the economy of the area. What was the bureaucratic red tape? The requirement to apply through the Bureau
of Indian Affairs instead of the Federal Lands Office which administers ERFO funding.
Many reservations share this same story, it is common to have roads that
are well beneath ground level or consist of narrow pavements with no shoulders
or inadequate signage with sharp narrow passages or curves.
When the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe generates a relative needs fund
totaling $19,000.00 - $30,000.00 per year and it is estimated that
$1,781,635.00 is needed to rebuild existing roads, not including future roads,
the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe will always remain at the bottom end of the
priority list. When competing for
funding at the national level for a construction project against
tribes, who are in
the same category, funding will remain unlikely with the poor qualifiers of low
population, ADT, and cost to construct.
Tribes in Nevada receive little or no support from the BIA WRO and have
requested many meetings to obtain information regarding assistance. Unfortunately, due to distance - we are
geographically crippled from obtaining the training and technical assistance
necessary for consideration under the IRR program. To get on the WRO TIP, a tribe must request BIA to approve
funding for the tribal project. This
process is passed over for the majority of tribes due to limited funding and
the lack of technical assistance from the Western Region Office.
What are the effects on a national level? Several Tribes in Nevada have major highways traveling through
their reservation. The Duck Valley
Shoshone-Paiute Tribe may have nuclear receptacles traveling through their area
on the very same roads numerous accidents occur. Tribes who do not have emergency response preparedness and have
unsafe road conditions will be ill equipped to handle the proposed nuclear
transportation.
Tribes in Nevada are capable of partnering with the State of Nevada to
address transportation issues, however, there are distinct differences with
Tribes. Not only is there a
jurisdictional considerations but the fact that many tribes need to participate
fully in research programs like safety and transit. Accesses to funds are dependent upon the inventory of tribes; it
is critical that tribes are able to provide the State agencies accurate
inventory information. Again, we cross
the path of needing those base/planning dollars in order to report and compile
the correct information.
The Tribal Technical Assistance Program serving Nevada Tribes is also
critical to meeting the transportation need, however, this program has been
non-existent for several years. Just
recently, a provider has been selected in California where conditions are very
different than those in Nevada. In
addition, this displaces us from the other Tribes in the WRO office and further
complicates matters when trying to pull together information and
resources.
Suggestions to improve
-- Provide for equal partnership with tribes.
Implement the procedures developed by the Negotiated Rulemaking
committee and provide full funding for the IRR program. Remove the obligation limitation from the
IRR program. Adjust the takedowns, the
BIA 6% and re-evaluate the funding formula.
Although tribes have to agree on a single formula, there are areas for
improvement. Population based formula
do not work for anyone. The high
priority programs can work if revolved around meeting the need of those tribes
who do not get enough funds to construct a project in a set period of time but
not if all tribes can access funds due to safety. The majority of Indian roads provide a safety risk.
Finally, tribal roads are given inequitable attention; we are
overlooked because we lack the capacity and knowledge to manage our program,
not because we can't but because we are not allowed to. Given the resources, and by partnering, we
can provide for safe accessible transportation system and contribute to the
local economy. Thank you.