Political Quotes

“on April 12 of 2000, the Warm Springs Tribe, Portland General Electric Company, and the Department of the Interior as the Tribe's trustee entered into an agreement for the Tribe to buy one-third or more of the 440-megawatt Pelton Hydroelectric Project on Oregon's Deschutes River. About one-third of that project is on the Warm Springs Tribal trust land. The Tribe plans to use bonds to finance the $30 million initial one-third acquisition of the project. A Federal law requires that any encumbrance of Indian trust resources be approved by the Interior Secretary. Interior asserts its current authorities are sufficient to authorize that approval for the Warm Springs trust resources. However, bond counsel asserts current authority is not express enough to allow for an unqualified opinion needed to issue those bonds. The Tribe and PGE also believe more express authority will help secure their agreement. H.R. 483 addresses this situation by providing express approval specifically for the Pelton agreement so the bonds can be issued and the agreement is more secure. At the same time, it provides that this single case instance of approval is not to diminish Interior's existing authority to approve similar agreements. The bill also authorizes Warm Springs trust land leases of up to 99 years at the Secretary's discretion. Mr. Speaker, I hope that the House can unanimously support this piece of legislation.…”