WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Native American tribes in the United States are ready to work with the Trump administration to finally end regulations imposed only on them, National Congress of American Indians President Brian Cladoosby told Sputnik.
"In the last 100 to 150 years, the federal government has put in rules and regulations that are different in Indian country as opposed to outside of Indian Country," Cladoosby said.
However, now that Trump’s Republican Party controls the US House of Representatives, Senate and the White House that situation could finally change, Cladoosby suggested.
"Part of their conservative values is local control, removing regulations. So we look forward to working with this administration to deal with those issues," he said.
Native American tribes in the US state of Colorado still suffered from this discriminatory bureaucracy especially in the natural resource sand mining sectors, Cladoosby explained.
"In Colorado, if you want to get a drilling permit to look for natural resources there’s a zero fee. It takes a very short time, probably less than a month or so to get that permit," he said.
Whenever any tribe in Colorado wants to do the same drilling on their lands, they have to pay the federal government almost $10,000 for a permit and it can take up to seven months, Cladoosby pointed out.
The United States has 566 federally recognized Indian Nations, 229 of them in Alaska, and the rest in 33 other states.
Established in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest and largest non-profit organization representing the tribes, and serving interests of tribal governments and communities, according to its website.
