§2103 Secretary’s Determination on Minerals Agreements

Summary

The Secretary must approve or disapprove any Minerals Agreement within 180 days after it is sent in, or within 60 days after any required compliance under section 4332(2)(C) of title 42 or other federal law, whichever comes later. Any party can enforce that timing under section 1361 of title 28. The Secretary must decide if the agreement is in the best interest of the tribe or any individual Indian involved. He must look at things like the possible economic return, environmental, social, and cultural effects, and how disputes will be handled. He does not have to do extra studies about those effects beyond what section 4332(2)(C) of title 42 requires. At least 30 days before a final approval or disapproval, the Secretary must give the affected tribe written findings. Those findings and related studies, data, and information about the agreement or the tribe’s mineral resources must be kept as the tribe’s confidential proprietary information by the Department of the Interior. Only the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs may be given the power to disapprove these agreements. A disapproval is a final agency decision. Federal district courts can review a disapproval and decide the matter again from the start. The Secretary must prove his decision was correct. If the Secretary approved an agreement in line with this law and other law, the United States is not liable for losses under that agreement. The Secretary still has a trust duty to protect a tribe’s or individual’s rights if another party breaks the agreement. This law does not remove other U.S. responsibilities to tribes from the trust relationship, treaties, Executive orders, or other agreements.