WASHINGTON – The Narragansett Indian Tribe is interested in acquiring the land the U.S. Navy plans to abandon on Aquidneck Island after all.
In a letter stamped Feb. 2, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk asks the Defense Department to ignore a December letter in which the bureau said it was abandoning its interest in acquiring the property on behalf of the tribe.
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“After further consideration we have determined that [the Bureau of Indian Affairs] remains interested in acquiring the property,” he wrote.
Echo Hawk said the property would allow the tribe to further unspecified economic development while providing services, jobs and job training to tribal members. Echo Hawk also requests waivers of payment for the land, payment for maintenance and operation costs, and the responsibility to clean up the property.
The letter came after the federal government formally announced in the Federal Register its intent to leave the 260 acres, which includes the former Navy hospital in Newport, the Navy Lodge in Middletown and a former tank farm in Portsmouth.
The Aquidneck Island Planning Commission had expected to be named the local redevelopment agency and start a months-long process to determine the future use of the land. It was unclear Tuesday whether the Defense Department would accept the request to bring the Narragansetts back into the process.
