After a list was released by U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) detailing the closing of nearly 30% of Bureau of Indian Affairs office space, Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear has been cautioning every tribal leader to take stock of their federal funds because everything is at risk.
After a weekend of fielding calls from BIA Osage Agency employees, which is scheduled to close in September, Standing Bear spoke with BIA Regional Director Eddie Streater.
“It appears the office space issue nationwide, including here at Osage Agency, is part of a process involving retention of employees,” Standing Bear said.
“And if you don’t have these employees, why do you need the office space?”
Standing Bear said Streater is complying with an order from the Office of Personnel Management to collect a list of names and positions that are, according to Standing Bear, “a wish list of reduction in force list that is due March 13th.”
Standing Bear understood from his conversation with Streater that the workforce will be reduced from 10% to 40%.
He said the goal of employee layoffs aligns with the Trump administration’s desire to gut laws and regulations.
“We won’t need these Bureau of Indian Affairs and Interior employees if the environmental laws are changed to where there is no consultation requirement … then you won’t need the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be there to review and approve,” Standing Bear said.
At the end of February, President Trump directed federal agencies to begin downsizing staff and consolidating departments. This comes weeks after thousands of probationary employees were fired, including Osage Agency Superintendent Adam Trumbly.
On Feb. 28, Rep. Huffman released a statement about the closing of BIA offices around the country. Oklahoma is set to lose four agencies, including one in Pawnee, Seminole, Watonga and the Osage Agency in Pawhuska.
Attempts to reach out to Streater and acting Osage Agency Superintendent Cammi Canady have gone unanswered. Streater told Osage News to direct their questions to the BIA press secretary.
Osage News did receive a statement from official BIA channels that was light on specifics and details.
“The Department of the Interior is committed to upholding federal responsibilities to tribal communities,” the statement read.
“Indian Affairs offices remain open and continue to provide services. The Department of the Interior is working with GSA to ensure facilities will be available for the continued delivery of BIA services.”
Osage News followed up with the DOI press secretary Joshua Barnett with more questions about whether that means the Department of the Interior was aware of the planned closings or if his statement meant the buildings would be kept open. As of press time, no response was given.
Reshaping Trust Responsibility
Standing Bear said he believes the closures and layoffs are meant to reshape the federal government’s footprint in Indian Country and reshape how tribal nations understand the trust responsibility.
“I can tell you that talking to people in Washington, D.C., in that building, in the Interior building, that you will hear them saying, ‘We will fulfill our trust responsibilities,’” Standing Bear said, recounting his conversations with Interior officials.
“Okay, that doesn’t mean they’re going to fulfill it the way we think it’s going to be … they will fulfill it the way they think, which could mean changes in regulations and laws that reduce the federal footprint, like environmental law, for example,” he said.
ON Congressman Billy Keene said he believed that keeping a superintendent and the Osage Agency open is in federal law under the amended 1906 Act. The 9th Osage Nation Congress is currently drafting a resolution to oppose the closing of the Osage Agency.
“It’s my view that the feds are always, you know, in law, they need a presence here in Pawhuska. That’s the way I read that,” Keene said, referring to the Osage Allotment Act of 1906.
Standing Bear, however, disputes that and believes the President can step in at any time and that this is essentially a constitutional issue.
“I want to be clear; there’s still a lot of confusion on our end too,” Keene said.
“So the directive we have so far primarily deals with the lease, but one of my concerns is losing those jobs in Pawhuska, or, if they want to, you know, say we want to move them to Muskogee,” Keene said.
In one of his first public appearances after his January confirmation, newly sworn-in Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spoke at the winter conference at the National Congress of American Indians and said he believes in fulfilling the trust responsibility owed to tribal nations. But, he also said that tribal nations have been hampered by “red tape.”
Burgum touted his background as a businessman and founder of a technology company in North Dakota called Great Plains Software and the relationships he built with tribal nations as Governor of North Dakota.
“I knew that from having worked for decades in technology, that I knew that I had an opportunity to bring some ideas to how to get government to work better … spend less taxpayer dollars doing it, cut red tape and make things run smoother,” he told the crowd at NCAI.
Standing Bear himself has promoted the idea of taking over duties at the Osage Agency in a lawsuit the Nation filed against the Department of the Interior over “stalling tactics” in self-governance of the minerals estate.
Osage Nation put forth a proposal that the federal government pay the Nation $4.87 million to take over BIA functions – $4.36 million of which would come from closing down the Osage Agency and $485,000 from costs associated with the regional office. The Osage Shareholders Association opposed the proposal.
Opposition
The Osage Minerals Council lodged their own disagreement with the recent order to shut down the Osage Agency, calling it a breach of the treaty and trust responsibility in a statement they recently released.
“The reckless proposal to terminate the Osage Agency Office lease with no consideration for its adverse impact on oil and gas development, no plan for the BIA employees that process energy permits, and no tribal consultation is unacceptable.” The Council continued, “We will insist that the Secretary of the Interior explain how closing our Agency and displacing BIA employees will improve oil and gas permitting.”
Standing Bear said every tribal leader needs to be concerned about federal funds that impact tribes. He says everything is at risk.
“We’ve had this relationship with the United States of America, the federal government, since the 1700s … it’s been developed in the 1800s-1900s and now here,” he said.
“How we’ve survived with all the changes is basing ourselves on our territorial integrity, where we express our culture and our language, and that’s what’s going to get us through again.”
