Yesterday, EPA announced a proposed rule that would revise the agency’s regulations to include a requirement that water quality standards protect reserved tribal treaty rights. This proposal is a major milestone for the agency that has tried to incorporate reserved tribal treaty rights into its water quality standards program since at least 2015.
Continue Reading EPA Proposes Water Quality Standards Revisions Requiring Consideration of Tribal Treaty Rights
Tribal Lands
Hydropower Industry Teams With Tribes, Conservation Organizations to Develop Legislative Package for Licensing Reform
By Elizabeth McCormick & Chuck Sensiba on
On April 3, representatives of the hydropower industry, Native American tribes, and conservation organizations provided a package of proposed legislative reforms to the Federal Power Act (FPA) to the ranking members of the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee. The package, which was developed as part of the Stanford University Uncommon Dialogue on hydropower and river conservation, is the result of year-long intense negotiations between a variety of hydropower stakeholders.
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Federal Agencies Sign Memorandum of Understanding for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites
By Elizabeth McCormick on
Posted in Sacred Sites, Tribal Lands
In November 2021, the secretaries of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (the participating agencies) entered into a voluntary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to “improve the protection of, and access to, Indigenous sacred sites through enhanced and improved interdepartmental coordination, collaboration, and action.”
Continue Reading Federal Agencies Sign Memorandum of Understanding for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites