Nation's request stirs opposition
Boehlert, McHugh urge government to halt land trust process
April 22, 2005

By KRISTA KARCH
Observer-Disptach

Just weeks after the Oneida Indian Nation asked the Department of the Interior to transfer its 17,220 acres into trust, two area congressmen have asked federal officials to halt the process.

U.S. Reps. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, and John McHugh, R-Watertown, told officials Thursday the nation's application was an attempt to avoid the potential consequences of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that left the Nation liable for property taxes within the city of Sherrill.

The ruling gives leverage for renewed land-claim negotiations, Boehlert said. The nation has battled for more than 30 years for more than 250,000 acres in Central New York.

"We have the incentive from all sides to resolve it," Boehlert said.

Nation spokesmen said the application for federal trust, which would render the land tax-exempt, was made under the guidance of the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in the majority opinion that application for federal trust is the "proper avenue" for gaining sovereign status for non-reservation Indian land.

The court's reference to federal trust was not specific to the Nation's case, however, McHugh said.

"It was a statement of fact that in no way indicated that these parcels should be handled that way," he said.

The application process for the transfer of land into federal trust is extensive, Department of the Interior spokesman Dan DuBray said.

"There is a good deal of ground to cover before it gets into the final stages, and much of that ground is getting comments and hearing the voices of people in local communities," he said.

Boehlert and McHugh met with the Department of the Interior the day after the New York state Senate passed a resolution asking federal officials to reject the nation's request. The resolution was sponsored by state Sens. Raymond Meier, R-Western, and Michael Nozzolio, R-Seneca Falls.

"I think we're in agreement that this trust application is just far too expansive and way outside the intent of the federal law," Meier said. "It is clearly intended on a wholesale basis to avoid the Supreme Court decision."

WHAT'S NEXT

While state and federal lawmakers fight to stall the Oneida Indian Nation's application to transfer 17,220 acres into a tax-exempt federal trust, the town of Verona waits for an assessment of the value of the Turning Stone Resort and Casino. Town Supervisor David Reed hopes to prepare a property tax bill for the Nation by Monday.