TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Cherokee Nation officials hope a bill before the U.S. House passes, saying it would allow the American Indian tribe to sell power.
The Tulsa World reports from its Washington bureau that in 1986, the tribe gained the exclusive right to build a power plant along the Arkansas River. The tribe is ready to build a $140 million, 30-megawatt facility near Sallisaw.
Former Cherokee Chief Ross Swimmer says "two little technical amendments" proposed in the bill by U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., would allow the tribe to retain ownership of the proposed hydroelectric plant and sell the power.
Boren says he wrote the bill to provide those amendments for the Cherokees. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, has endorsed the project.
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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com