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will prevail. Tribes are relying on the United States Congress to appropriate sufficient funding for the development of reservation physical infrastructures to promote the development of labor intensive enterprises in Indian Country. These types of efforts will increase reservation employment and stimulate the economy in all sectors, commercial, public and private businesses.

In 1995, the NTDA conducted a nationwide survey to determine the total need and cost of reservation physical infrastructures for the development and operation of labor intensive manufacturing and industry. In conducting the nationwide survey, the NTDA contracted with Eugene A. Begay, Sr., representing Eagle Associates, to develop and conduct the survey. Mr. Chairman, before I briefly point the critical results of this survey, I would like to request that this survey report by the NTDA titled, “Report on the Unmet Physical Infrastructure Needs on Indian Reservations Nationwide," December, 1995, be entered into the record.

The NTDA survey results were divided into categories based upon: 1) the stage of the respondents manufacturing and/or industrial development plans; 2) the need for Technical Assistance ("TA") in the development and realization of those plans; and 3) the need for funding to carry out those plans. The following is a brief review of the critical needs in terms of physical infrastructure in Indian Country from the NTDA survey report:

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This category consisted of tribal entities which indicated a “ready-to-go” (“RTG”) status for projects aimed at manufacturing and/or industrial development. "Ready-to-go" means those projects that have working drawings and specifications complete and are ready for bidding and construction. In this category, the most prominent problems facing the tribes in the development

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TESTIMONY OF JOHN SUNCHILD, SR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

of physical infrastructure systems are:

1) availability of and access to energy sources, i.e., electricity and gas;

2)

lack of sufficient water supply and wastewater disposal facilities; and

3)

accessing main highways, railroads, and air transportation.

Mr. Chairman and Committee members, I need to point out that these are fairly advanced tribes with economic development projects in the works, however as I pointed out, lack some very basic fundamental physical infra structural needs to promote and sustain economic development on their respective reservations. In addition, tribal responses indicated a need for:

"Technical Assistance” (“TA”) in the development of physical infrastructure systems on reservations nationwide, in particular with:

1)

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II.

a) labor force studies because in many cases, the BIA labor statistics were
outdated and inaccurate;

b) economic feasibility studies such as understanding taxation as it pertains to reservation economic development; and

c) assessing environmental issues.

CATEGORY B-GROUPI

This category consisted of tribal entities which indicated they were at the stage of physical infrastructure development but not yet at the point of "ready-to-go” (“RTG”) status for

projects aimed at manufacturing and/or industrial development. The main problems that tribes in

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TESTIMONY OF JOHN SUNCHILD, SR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

this category were experiencing are:

1)

lack of water supply and wastewater disposal systems; and

2)

lack of access to main highways, railroads and air transportation.

In addition, tribes expressed the need for:

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TA in the area of water systems, such as, the design of elevated water storage tanks, disposal water treatment facilities, and deep well pumping systems;

TA in designing and developing natural gas energy supplies;

TA in developing economic and business plans for future manufacturing and industrial operations; and

TA in the area of identifying sources of funding to further design and estimate construction costs for developing physical infrastructure projects.

CATEGORY C-GROUPI

This category consisted of tribal entities which identified a specific physical infrastructure need but had not yet initiated specific plans to implement their need. The main problem expressed by this category of tribes is the need for:

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1) accessing main highways, railroads, and air transportation;

2)

TA in developing environmental impact studies and accessing energy sources;

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4)

TA in designing water pressure systems, water transfer pumping stations, and new roads for trucking;

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TESTIMONY OF JOHN SUNCHILD, SR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

5)

TA in identifying and researching existing business enterprises to relocate on their reservations; and

6)

a need for TA in the area of identifying funding to design their projects and to estimate construction costs.

Mr. Chairman and Committee member, as the survey report indicates, tribes are at various stages in terms of the development of physical infrastructures needed to sustain economic development in Indian Country. However, the study reveals that the greatest need for technical assistance was in the area of wastewater disposal treatment, accessing adequate water supplies, and improving reservation access to transportation systems. In addition, funding needs were prevalent in the study results such as, funding for various technical studies, funding for technical assistance to design and estimate construction costs, and funding to implement construction and secure financing for physical infrastructure projects. The need for basic physical infrastructures in Indian Country are enormous but not impossible to attain.

Economic conditions in Indian Country have historically lagged behind the rest of the economy due to failed federal policies dealing with Indian tribes and lack to benefits from federal economic programs. An example which comes to mind is the 1902 Reclamation Act which extended billions of dollars of irrigation subsidies to non-Indian farmers but, despite its trust responsibility to Indians, the federal government left Indians out of the reclamation program, denying the tribes a prime opportunity to improve their economies. The National Water Commission called it “one of the sorrier chapters... in the history of the United States Government's treatment of Indian tribes." This should not be allowed to happen again. The creation of federal/tribal government-to-government partnerships is an essential

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TESTIMONY OF JOHN SUNCHILD, SR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

component in the development of reservation physical infrastructures. Because Indian people reside in the nation's most poverty-stricken areas, Congress should have included Indian reservations within the federal Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community (“EZ/EC”) initiative. Because this did not happen another injustice results in Indian Country. Indian reservations must be included with these Empowerment Zones in order to empower Indian people to develop and implement economic initiatives to sustain tribal economies. It is this type of government-togovernment partnership that I envision between the United States federal government and Indian tribes. The EZ/EC program is an interagency initiative involving more than fifteen (15) government agencies and departments with the overall goal of rebuilding communities in the nation's most poverty-stricken cities and rural areas. Indian reservations definitely qualify for this type of economic initiative. It is an injustice to again deny tribes, like with the Reclamation programs, the opportunity to benefit from federal economic benefit programs targeting economically depressed communities. The NTDA is committed to promote this kind of federal/tribal partnership resulting in some type of interagency cooperative effort as well as an intertribal cooperative effort to develop and sustain tribal economics.

Mr. Chairman and Committee members, rather than dwell on the past we need to learn from our mistakes and work in a true government-to-government partnership to rectify the wrongs and provide the opportunities for Indian tribes to sustain viable economies and homelands in Indian Country. There is reason to believe that tribes are now in a position to break free of the economic chains that have shackled them for the past two centuries. Innovative leadership both at the tribal and Congressional levels have greatly helped Indian tribes to access

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TESTIMONY OF JOHN SUNCHILD, SR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

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