NY tribes ponder implications of federal land transfer to trust; judge to consider challenges

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Story Created: Feb 23, 2009 at 6:56 AM EDT

Story Updated: Feb 23, 2009 at 6:56 AM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A half-dozen lawsuits have been filed
against the Air Force transfer last year of an 18-acre tract in
central New York to the U.S. Department of Interior, which put it
into trust for the Oneida Indian Nation under a provision of the
Base Realignment and Closure law.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn is expected to consider challenges to the transfer Wednesday during a court conference.

Two key arguments in the lawsuits are that trust land is unprecedented in New York, where several tribes have much larger land claims pending, and that it can't be taken without state consent.

Local and state elected officials have called the transfer an end-run land grab.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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