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Cherokee Nation
Posted: Jun 20, 2022 9:23 AMUpdated: Jun 20, 2022 9:23 AM
PODCAST: Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr
Tom Davis
From a historic compact with the USDOT to the $1 million for a new water system for Nowata, several topices were covered in this month's podcast with Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr said the Cherokee Nation welcomed its first visit from U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg, the nation’s second highest ranking transportation official earlier this month.
Deputy Secretary Trottenberg and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., signed a Tribal Transportation Self-Governance Program compact and funding agreement, the first of its kind between a tribe and USDOT. Secretary Buttigieg, who could not attend the event due to testing positive for COVID 19, signed the compact from Washington D.C. and Deputy Secretary Trottenberg signed during the event as a witness.
Since 2021, the USDOT has engaged with the Cherokee Nation in the negotiation of a compact and funding agreement in support of the Cherokee Nation’s right to self-determination and self-governance.
According tho Chief Hoskin, Cherokee Nation is contributing $1 million to help the city of Nowata provide its community with cleaner, safer drinking water by helping fund a new Water System Improvements Plan.
The plan, in part, calls for a new water storage tank for the city and was part of an agreement signed by Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and city leaders recently.
Hoskin reminded Cherokee citizens that the Cherokee Nation is hosting a series of in-person sign-up events across the tribe’s reservation this month to help eligible Cherokee citizens apply for the expanded low-income Emergency Utility Assistance Program. The deadline to apply for the program is June 30, 2022.
The Emergency Utility Assistance Program aims to assist eligible Cherokee Nation citizen households affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with utility payments. The expanded program now includes at-large citizens living in counties contiguous to the Cherokee Nation Reservation.
Assistance may be used to cover a portion of past-due utility payments, current and future utility payments, and utility deposits. The tribe can assist with natural gas, propane, water or electricity.
Lastly, the Chief talked about the eleven Cherokee bicyclists who were part of the 2022 Remember the Removal Bike Ride finalized their 950-mile journey from North Carolina on Friday with a homecoming ceremony in the capital city of the Cherokee Nation. The cyclists began the memorial ride in New Echota, Georgia, on May 30 and pedaled through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma before they were welcomed back at the Cherokee National Peace Pavilion in downtown Tahlequah on Friday.
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