An Oct. 11 listening session will kick off formal government-to-government consultations in six parts of the US from Oct. 25 through Nov. 11 on how Indian tribes can participate more effectively and promptly in federal infrastructure decision-making.
The US Departments of the Interior, Justice, and the Army jointly announced on Sept. 23 that the listening session during the National Congress of American Indians' 73rd annual convention in Phoenix and subsequent consultations would consider two main questions:
• What the federal government should do, within the statutory framework, to better ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related reviews and decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources, and treaty rights.
• Whether new legislation should be proposed to Congress to alter that statutory framework and promote those goals.
Consultations are scheduled for Oct. 27 in Seattle; Oct. 27 in Albuquerque; Oct. 15 in Minneapolis; Oct. 17 in Rapid City, SD; Nov. 2 in Billings, Mont.; and by teleconference on Nov. 21.
The consultations announcement came after the Army withdrew a Corps of Engineers permit for the proposed Dakota Access crude oil pipeline on Sept. 9 following days of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes and groups. It came hours after a federal district judge in Washington rejected the tribe's request that the permit be stayed.
Business groups including the American Petroleum Institute and National Association of Manufacturers immediately called the action political. Events clearly showed that a more comprehensive look at how tribes could be involved earlier was necessary, the federal entities said.
The Obama administration has used that rationale since early 2009 within DOI as the Bureaus of Land Management and Ocean Energy Management each have emphasized involving more stakeholders sooner in the federal oil and gas leasing process.
Delays or improvement?
Some oil and gas groups have argued that this merely has created more delays. Agency officials have responded that it has reduced the number of court decisions overturning leases that have been issued. Both sides contend that they want more clarity in the process. One says it would help a lot if there was less political influence from outside organizations that simply want to see all fossil fuel projects stopped.
"It's important that a project is allowed to go forward when the government has approved it and a court upholds that approval," API Pres. Jack N. Gerard said in reference to the federal entities' Sept. 9 Dakota Access pipeline maneuver.
"Otherwise, there's a chilling effect when companies grow uncertain that government decisions might be reversed arbitrarily," he warned during a Sept. 26 teleconference hours before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's first presidential debate.