Five years after signing Public Law 108-270 into law, the Western Shoshone continue to wait for payment because of the stagnant inaction of the Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. Approximately 7,500 applications have been submitted since April 2006 – yet five years after becoming law not one single Western Shoshone beneficiary has been certified.

“The Western Shoshone Judgment Fund Distribution Act, Public Law 108-270, 118 Stat. 805 (Act), dated July 7, 2004 requires the Secretary of the Interior to establish a judgment fund per capita roll to distribute the judgment funds awarded to the Western Shoshone by the Indian Claims Commission on August 15, 1977, in Docket No. 326-K.”

On March 3, 2009 seventeen representatives of the Western Shoshone met in Phoenix, Arizona to investigate the five year delay. The Western Shoshone met with the following government officials:

Debbie McBride, Acting Associate Deputy Bureau Director, Office Of Indian Services, Washington DC; Daisy West, Chief, Division of Tribal Government Services, Washington, DC; Nona Tuchawena, Acting Deputy Regional Director of Indian Services, Phoenix, Arizona; Sharlot Johnson, Tribal Services Specialist, Phoenix Western Regional Office, Phoenix, Arizona; and Joseph McDade, Superintendent, Eastern Nevada Agency, Elko, Nevada.

Additionally the following participants were teleconferenced in: Davis Gonzales, Chairman of Te-Moak Tribe, Elko, Nevada; Tracy Hartzler-Toon, Counsel to the Majority on Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Washington, DC; and two Representatives from the Office of Special Trustee, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Western Shoshone people have heard the “blame game” over and over. Ultimately the responsibility has been inherited by Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior; and his subordinates Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Indian Affairs; Daisy West, Chief, Division of Tribal Government Services, Washington, DC; and Alan Anspach, Director, BIA, Phoenix Area Office. Bureau of Indian Affair personnel associated with the Western Shoshone Project are employees. All decisions come from Washington, DC.

Daisy West, Chief, Division of Tribal Government Services, Washington DC stated very clearly in the March 3, 2009 meeting, the projected date for “partial payment” would be May 2010 and final payment after appeals approximately September 2011. If the Western Shoshone Project can be completed in 15 months, what has Daisy West been doing for the past 5 years? Certainly this is not a “new” process since the BIA has previously processed multiple distributions throughout the years.

The Western Shoshone Judgment Fund doesn’t need Congressional action because payment has been authorized since 1977; and the money remains in the Office of the Special Trustee, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The $180 million dollars would be a huge economic stimulus to the Western Shoshone and the State of Nevada; and would immediately stimulate local, rural economies with cash to purchase goods and services.