An article in The Conversation, an independent news organization, highlights elements of a recent report from the Harvard Kennedy School that determined the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act has seriously limited the economic growth potential of the Wabanaki Nations, putting them well below the average for all other federally recognized tribes. From the article:
Across the other Lower 48 states, tribal economic development demonstrably spills over into neighboring nontribal communities, improving the abilities of tribes and state and local governments to serve their citizens. For example, the Hualapai, Winnebago and Fort Belknap tribes – located in Arizona, Nebraska and Montana, respectively – rank among the top employers of their counties and regions. Tribal economic growth routinely supports intergovernmental investments in highway off-ramps, water-treatment systems and cross-deputization of police.
But because of MICSA, Maine is leaving thousands of jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars of gross state product and tens of millions of dollars of state and local government revenue on the table.
