By ALEX deMARBAN
ademarban@adn.comPublished: July 7, 2007
Last Modified: July 7, 2007 at 01:59 AM

The U.S. secretary of the interior has rebuffed state Republican legislative leaders who wanted the federal government to overturn recognition of Native tribal governments in Alaska.

There's no reason to revisit the department's 1993 opinion that Alaska villages are Indian tribes, wrote Lawrence Jensen, interior's deputy solicitor, in a June 15 letter to Senate President Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, and House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez.

Jensen, replying on behalf of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, said the department determined that Native villages are tribes after an "exhaustive review of the facts and law" culminating in a 133-page opinion. The opinion was supplemented with additional information in 1999, he wrote.

Another review of the findings and conclusions of that opinion isn't warranted, he said.In a May 1 letter, Green and Harris asked Kempthorne to delay a bid by Eklutna to operate a tribal gaming operation until his department reviewed the opinion.

Among other things, they asked Kempthorne to decide whether Alaska Native organizations are tribes when it comes to gambling. Without tribes, there could be no tribal gambling.

The fight over tribal status isn't new. State Republican legislative leaders also asked for a review in 2001. The department didn't change its policy then either.

In their letter, Green and Harris said that tribal recognition in Alaska has led to jurisdictional conflicts between the state and "purported" tribal governments. In one example, the letter cited unnamed tribal governments that have informed the attorney general that they consider themselves immune from the state's clean water laws.

Harris, reached Friday while fishing on the Kenai River, said he didn't send the letter because he opposes Alaska Natives. He said he has no problem with many of the benefits they receive from the federal government, such as health care.  

Tribal governments bring hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds into Alaska, especially in the area of health care.  

But Harris said he wants to know where tribes' jurisdiction begins and ends, especially in areas such as gaming. "If tribal status is allowed on certain types of lands, does that mean we have two levels of government?" he asked. 

EKLUTNA APPLICATION 

In April, the Eklutna tribal government applied to the National Indian Gaming Commission for a federal gaming permit. The commission must determine that a Native allotment where Eklutna's tribal gambling would take place is considered "Indian land." Only a few isolated tracts in Southeast, none of them allotments, have been granted that status in Alaska. A tribe must be able to show it exerts government power over the land. 

The application was recently withdrawn for technical reasons and will be resubmitted later, said Daniel Alex, tribal administrator, adding that Eklutna wants to use gambling revenues to help its 250 members. Government agencies don't provide enough money to meet basic needs such as housing or education, he said. 

If approved, the permit would allow Class II gambling such as bingo or pull tabs. The state could not regulate the operation and could collect no fees, Alex said.  

Bush caucus leaders, who sent Kempthorne their own letter in May opposing a review of tribal status, hailed his decision.  

Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, said Republican leaders must stop trying to eliminate tribes every time there's a conflict. Among other services, tribal governments work with village corporations and cities to provide a variety of services, he said. They bring assets to the table the state doesn't have.

"The tribes are doing a service to the State of Alaska that would cost the state a lot of money if they were doing it themselves," he said

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