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Category: department of the interior

  • Green Groups ‘Undeterred’ Despite US Judge Allowing Willow Oil Project to Proceed

    Climate campaigners on Tuesday remained resolute in their fight against ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil project in Alaska—even after a federal judge declined to issue a preliminary injunction sought by environmental and Indigenous groups behind a pair of legal challenges.

    “It’s heartbreaking that ConocoPhillips has been allowed to break ground on Willow before the court has fully assessed whether the project is lawful,” said Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.

    “But this case isn’t over, and we’ll keep fighting to protect struggling Arctic wildlife and our climate from this disastrous project,” Monsell vowed. “We’re hopeful we’ll get the Willow project’s approval thrown out once again.”

    After the Biden administration last month controversially approved the 30-year Big Oil project, two coalitions of advocacy organizations swiftly filed separate lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.

    One case is led by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace USA, and Natural Resources Defense Council; the other was filed by Trustees for Alaska on behalf of Alaska Wilderness League, Environment America, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Sierra Club, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, and the Wilderness Society.

    “Allowing ConocoPhillips to bulldoze forward with construction of the largest oil and gas project on public lands before the lawsuits are settled is needlessly destructive.”

    In a 44-page order on Monday, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason—an appointee of former President Barack Obama—denied both coalitions’ requests that the court halt construction.

    “The court has weighed the environmental harm posed by the proposed winter 2023 construction activities against the economic damages, benefits to most subsistence users, and the state and federal legislative pronouncements of the public interest that would be impacted by a preliminary injunction prohibiting these construction activities at this time, and concludes that the balance of the equities and the public interest tip sharply against preliminary injunctive relief,” she wrote. “The court has further determined that plaintiffs have not established that irreparable injury to their members is likely if winter 2023 construction activities proceed.”

    A spokesperson for ConocoPhillips said in a statement to CNN that “with this decision from the federal district court, we are able to immediately begin construction activities.”

    Trustees for Alaska lead staff attorney Bridget Psarianos noted that “the district court found in our prior 2020 lawsuit that winter road construction and gravel mining would do immediate and permanent harm to land and the community of Nuiqsut. It’s no different this time.”

    “This is heartbreaking for all who want to protect local communities and prevent more devastating climate impacts in the Arctic and around the world,” the lawyer added. “We will do everything we can to protect the region while the merits of our case get heard.”

    Those behind the other case were similarly disappointed but determined. Greenpeace USA climate campaign director Natalie Mebane declared that “allowing ConocoPhillips to bulldoze forward with construction of the largest oil and gas project on public lands before the lawsuits are settled is needlessly destructive.”

    Still, “we remain undeterred,” said Defenders of Wildlife Alaska Program director Nicole Whittington-Evans. “We remain committed to protecting the western Arctic and look forward to the court’s full consideration of the Willow project, including its impacts to polar bears threatened with extinction and massive carbon emissions that will worsen the climate crisis for decades to come.”

    President Joe Biden has faced intense criticism over his administration greenlighting Willow despite the climate campaign promises that helped him win in 2020. Green groups called the approval a “betrayal” and some Democrats on Capitol Hill warned that it “destroys our climate goals and undermines international climate ambition,” leaving an “oil stain” on Biden’s legacy.

    “Although the White House and Department of Interior were not persuaded to stop Willow despite the advocacy of more than 5 million individuals, we are now using the power of the law to restore some balance,” said Erik Grafe, deputy managing attorney in Earthjustice’s Alaska regional office. “While this particular round of the legal challenge did not produce the outcome we had hoped for, our court battle continues.”

    “We will do everything within our power to protect the climate, wildlife, and people from this dangerous carbon bomb,” Grafe pledged. “Climate scientists have warned that we have less than seven years to get it right on climate change, and we cannot afford to lock in three decades of oil drilling that will only serve to open the door to more fossil fuel extraction.”

  • Biden Chooses Fossil Fuels Over Us



    The sun was beating down and my ears were ringing. My hands gripped the megaphone as we chanted, “No more drilling, no more drilling, no more drilling on federal lands!” The words we chanted were President Joe Biden’s verbatim, a broken promise made on the campaign trail in 2020. Just over a week after approving a massive oil drilling plan in the Arctic called the Willow project, President Biden hosted a conservation summit at the Department of the Interior. Youth climate justice organizers from Zero Hour protested alongside allied organizations outside the summit for hours, determined not to let Biden forget his broken promise. Administration officials and the president himself entered and left the building, pretending to ignore us and our demands, but we didn’t quiet down. We don’t plan to stop protesting the outrageous decision any time soon.

    The conservation summit also came a day after the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was released, warning that this is our last chance for governments to stop fossil fuels to meet key planetary warming thresholds. The audacity of the Biden administration to host an environmental summit just after taking action that locks us into further dependence on fossil fuels is a striking example of just how out-of-touch the administration is. The week before the Willow project was approved, #StopWillow went viral online and a Change.org petition against the project gathered nearly 2.5 million signatures. In-person protests erupted in places from the White House to the Stephen Colbert show where Vice President Kamala Harris was a guest. And yet, the administration has continued to stand by its unconscionable decision.

    I have been organizing and advocating for climate action since I was 15 years old, and politicians being deaf to public demands is nothing new to me. But as I stood outside the president’s summit that day, it felt like a slap in the face.

    I refuse to fall victim to climate doom, because the truth is we can still save our planet as we know it.

    President Biden will never know what it’s like to be a young person growing up in the middle of the climate crisis. Seeing news like the IPCC report back to back with government-sanctioned fossil fuel approval, it’s no wonder many young people like me are disillusioned and riddled with climate anxiety and despair. Every day we are careening towards a dark and uncertain future, as we watch the waters rise around us and deadly disasters become regular occurrences. Words cannot describe how demoralizing it is to see our representatives side with fossil fuels again and again, stubbornly chaining us to a corrupt and antiquated industry that has no concern for the future of humanity.

    I refuse to fall victim to climate doom, because the truth is we can still save our planet as we know it. The IPCC was clear about that too: If greenhouse gas emissions peak now, we have a chance to keep the planet under 1.5°C of warming. Scientists warn that at 1.5°C, we will see the most catastrophic effects of climate change. From coastal cities going underwater to widespread food scarcity from crop failures, humanity will face challenges we can’t even fathom. I became a climate justice organizer because I was determined not to let our planet and futures be stolen from us by the fossil fuel industry. The only way we’ll achieve a livable future is if our president carries that philosophy as well.

    President Biden needs youth and climate justice organizers on his side too. I worked hard organizing youth to vote for Biden in 2020 even though I myself was too young to vote. I remember the relief and hope I felt when he won, promising to cut emissions by 50% by 2030. But Biden has not been the climate president he claims to be, and has taken actions that undermine his emission reduction goals. On top of the Willow project, the Biden administration approved 6,430 permits to drill for oil and gas on public lands in its first two years, a higher rate than the Trump administration.

    There is no middle ground when it comes to fighting the climate crisis anymore: We either stop all new fossil fuels or we don’t. Approving new fossil fuel projects at this point is absurd: We need to be actively shutting down current projects. President Biden’s decision on the Willow project is the opposite of what conventional science dictates. It communicates a disconnect from reality and a disregard for the people who elected him. Time has run out for a both-sides approach: President Biden must choose one or the other, fossil fuels or our future. By approving the Willow project, it is clear which side he is on.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Indian Boarding Schools Were Part of “Genocidal Process” Carried Out by the US

    The Interior Department has documented the deaths of more than 500 Indigenous children at Indian boarding schools run or supported by the federal government in the United States which operated from 1819 to 1969. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher, and the report located 53 burial sites at former schools. The report was ordered by the first Indigenous cabinet member, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose grandparents were forced to attend boarding school at the age of 8. “It’s kind of a misnomer to actually call these educational institutions or schools themselves when you didn’t have very many people graduating, let alone surviving the dire conditions of those schools,” says Nick Estes, historian and co-founder of The Red Nation. Estes says the institutions were part of a “genocidal process” of “dispossession and theft of Indigenous people’s lands and resources.”

    TRANSCRIPT

    This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

    AMY GOODMAN: A new report by the Interior Department has documented the deaths of 500 Indigenous children at Indian boarding schools run or supported by the federal government in the United States, but the actual death toll is believed to be far higher. The report also located 53 burial sites at former schools, which were run for over a century. The report marks the first time the Department of Interior has documented some of the horrific history at the schools, known for their brutal assimilation practices forcing students to change their clothing, language and culture.

    The report was ordered by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a member of the Laguna Pueblo. Her grandparents were forced to attend boarding school at the age of 8. She spoke on Wednesday.

    INTERIOR SECRETARY DEB HAALAND: For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government, specifically the Department of the Interior, and religious institutions. …

    When my maternal grandparents were only 8 years old, they were stolen from their parents’ culture and communities and forced to live in boarding schools until the age of 13. Many children like them never made it back to their homes. …

    The federal policies that attempted to wipe out Native identity, language and culture continue to manifest in the pain tribal communities face today, including cycles of violence and abuse, disappearance of Indigenous people, premature deaths, poverty and loss of wealth, mental health disorders and substance abuse. Recognizing the impacts of the federal Indian boarding school system cannot just be a historical reckoning. We must also chart a path forward to deal with these legacy issues. …

    The fact that I am standing here today as the first Indigenous cabinet secretary is testament to the strength and determination of Native people. I am here because my ancestors persevered. I stand on the shoulders of my grandmother and my mother. And the work we will do with the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative will have a transformational impact on the generations who follow.

    AMY GOODMAN: That was Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. On Thursday, Matthew War Bonnet, who was brought to a boarding school on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota at the age of 6, testified about his experience before the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples.

    MATTHEW WAR BONNET: My boarding school experience is very painful and traumatic. I remember when I first got to school. The priests took us to this big room which had six or eight bathtubs in it. The priest took all us little guys and put us in one tub, and he scrubbed us hard with a big brush. The brush made our skins and our backsides all raw. And we had to have our hair cut. The school then put all the little guys in the same dormitory. We were together, the first through fourth grades. At nighttime you could hear all the children crying.

    AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the history of Indian boarding schools run or supported by the U.S. government, we’re joined by Nick Estes in Minneapolis, writer, historian, author of the book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. He’s co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

    Nick, welcome back to Democracy Now! Talk about the significance of this new Interior Department report.

    NICK ESTES: Thanks so much for having me, Amy.

    And as you could hear in the voices of the people, Secretary Haaland, this is a very emotional experience for a lot of Indigenous people in this country. And it should be an emotional experience for non-Indigenous people in this country. This is quite a historic moment in time. Although it’s not new news to Indigenous people, it might be new news to those who are hearing this horrific genocidal process that has taken place.

    I think, you know, there’s a reason why the forcibly transferring of children from one group to another group is an international legal definition of genocide. That’s what we’re talking about, because taking children, or the process of Indian child removal, has been one strategy for terrorizing Native families for centuries, from the mass removal of Native children from their communities into boarding schools, as this new report lays out, from their communities into their widespread adoption and fostering out to mostly white families, which happened primarily in the 20th century.

    This is a historic report in that regard, because it documents, I think for the first time, the federal government admitting to this genocidal process. Of course they don’t use that language in this report, but many of the researchers, most of whom were Indigenous, who did the legwork on this first volume — I think it’s going to be the first volume of several volumes — to say that this is a widespread — this was a widespread, systematic destruction, not just of our culture but of our nations, as well as an open, you know, theft of land.

    And I think that’s important to talk about here, that settler colonialism isn’t just about targeting Native people because they hate our culture, our language or our religion, but this boarding school system came at a time when the United States government, at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century, was looking to consolidate its western frontier through the Dawes Allotment Act, which resulted in hundreds of millions of acres of Indian territory being opened up for white settlement and using Indian children as hostages. And that’s the language of the policy reformers at the time. That’s the language that they were using. They were saying, “We are going to use these children as hostages” for the, quote-unquote, “good behavior” of their people.

    AMY GOODMAN: Now, you have visited and reported on one particular Indian boarding school, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, that was opened in 1879. Can you talk about that as an example of what took place around this country?

    NICK ESTES: Carlisle really became the archetype of off-reservation Indian boarding schools. And in fact, the Carlisle Indian School, the first classes that entered were from Lakota people, my nation, from specifically the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Agencies, because we had put up a historic resistance against the Dawes Allotment Act, and it was a way to essentially break the tribal bonds of our people.

    And so, that first class that went, it’s documented in Luther Standing Bear’s two autobiographies that he wrote. He’s from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. And he talks about these schools as not being so much schools, but as prisoner of war camps, where they learned — they didn’t learn, you know, the ABCs or language and mathematics, the things that you would expect to learn at schools. Instead, they learned military discipline, because General Pratt, or Colonel Pratt, he was a military man. And this was a strange arrangement between the U.S. military and the Department of Interior to run this off-reservation boarding school, but the militarized discipline became instilled in many of the off-reservation boarding schools, as well as the inculcation of U.S. patriotism, flag worship and religious obedience.

    And so, the first classes that went to the Carlisle Indian School, according to the testimony of Luther Standing Bear, who was part of that first incoming class, half of them didn’t even return home. Many of them died at that school. So, it’s kind of a misnomer to actually call these educational institutions or schools themselves when you didn’t have very many people graduating, let alone surviving the dire conditions of those schools.

    And in this report, they document the forced labor. The unpaid labor of Native children was used to essentially subsidize the lack of resources that the federal government was not providing to Indian education at this time, too. So it was a horrific experience for those who didn’t make it out, but it was also a horrific experience for those who did make it out.

    And to this day, at the entrance of the Carlisle Indian School, there is a cemetery of hundreds of gravestones. And many tribal nations, including the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, have been working on returning their ancestors. Some of them have been successful. But it’s also important to point out that some of the children that died there are from tribal nations that don’t — you know, that have protocols around not disturbing their ancestors when they’re interred into the earth. And so this is a very delicate situation. It’s not just the problem of the federal government; it’s also the problem of the U.S. military.

    AMY GOODMAN: So, let me ask —

    NICK ESTES: Because this is an active — it’s an active military base. I think that’s important to point out, too.

    AMY GOODMAN: Nick Estes, research by Preston McBride at Dartmouth, Dartmouth College, has suggested as many as 40,000 Native American children died at government-run boarding schools around the U.S. This report is saying 500. Can you talk more about this discrepancy?

    NICK ESTES: Yeah, I think in the press briefing by the Department of Interior yesterday, it was pointed out by Deb Haaland, as well as Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland, that this was a preliminary report and that they’ve identified over 53 marked or unmarked gravesites at these various off-reservation boarding schools and on-reservation boarding schools. And I think it’s a really delicate matter, because, for example, the Rapid City Indian School, which is in Rapid City, South Dakota, the burial sites are actually within the community itself. There have been housing projects that had been built over the burial sites. And a lot of people are reluctant to identify them publicly because of the history of grave robbing at a lot of these sites. And so, I think what Preston is saying is very true, that this is an undercount, because it’s an initial survey of these specific gravesites. But I think as this investigation goes underway and more documents become available for the public, we’re going to see those numbers continue to rise. And it’s very tragic.

    I think it’s important to point out that this initiative began last June, when several hundred Native children’s graves were found in Canada. But where are the headlines now about all the surveys that a lot of these First Nations are doing at these sites? And the numbers are in the thousands right now, but it’s not making headlines, you know? And so I think it’s important to pay attention to this as it unfolds and to really listen to a lot of the Native elders, as well as the Native researchers who have been doing this historically. This isn’t new news to us, you know. We don’t have a definitive number. All we have is the common experience of the boarding school system, as it has affected every single American Indian in this country.

    AMY GOODMAN: Do you have reservations about the report? In fact, it’s true the Interior Department report said they expect to find thousands, if not tens of thousands, of deaths. But you’re talking about a report that was released by the Interior Department and worked on by the Bureau of Indian Affairs within that, which actually ran the whole boarding school system. But the new development, of course, is Deb Haaland is in charge, the first Native American cabinet member in U.S. history.

    NICK ESTES: Yeah, I think it’s important to point out that Deb Haaland is — you know, I think she’s been in this position for just over a year now. And one year, you know, in the face of a century and a half of genocidal Indian policy, isn’t that much, when we think about how history unfolds.

    But also I think it’s important to point out that the perpetrator of this crime against humanity is now going to be the adjudicator of justice, so to speak. And there were questions of Deb Haaland’s office yesterday about what reparations will look like on behalf of tribes. They’re modeling their truth and reconciliation process off of the Canadian model. But it’s important to point out that the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission only came about because of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of residential school survivors. And I would say that the Department of Interior has a poor track record in terms of adjudicating an accounting for its own crimes.

    You know, we can look at the Cobell settlement, which happened in 2011. You know, the — excuse me — the banker, Elouise Cobell, she was from the Blackfoot Nation. She did a forensic audit of the United States and found that the federal government had mismanaged $176 billion of individual Indian moneys, and the Department of Interior awarded itself, because we’re still considered wards of the government, $3.5 billion. That’s almost pennies on the dollar of what she had accounted for in terms of damages that we were awarded.

    And so, it’s no coincidence that Indian people are in the same department that manages wildlife and federal lands. You know, we have — I heard earlier in the broadcast that the Department of Interior is kind of going back on this overt federal leasing program. But it’s not just the question of Indian boarding schools, you know, because Indian boarding schools were one facet of a larger process of dispossession and theft of Indigenous people’s lands and resources, because the Indian boarding school system was actually using treaty annuities and federal funds that was meant for Indian education for this genocidal process. And this money was gained through the selling of our land to white settlers. It was also gained through the dispossession of those lands by the federal government itself. And so there’s a lot of accounting to be done here.

    And the report itself identifies 39,000 boxes of materials that the federal government has. I think it’s about 9 — over 9 million pages of documents that need to be reviewed. And so, allocating just $7 million to this investigative process over a century and a half of genocidal policies is kind of a drop in the bucket in what needs to happen. But it is important to point out that there is — Representative Sharice Davids, who’s a Democrat from Kansas and also from an Indigenous nation herself, has a bill that’s going through Congress right now that will open up, I think, more federal money for an investigative process that will look not only into the federal Indian boarding school system but also look into the role of faith groups, specifically the Catholic Church and its role in these genocidal educational policies.

    AMY GOODMAN: Well, we will certainly continue to follow all of this.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Senate Confirms Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary

    Rep. Deb Haaland testifies at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill February 23, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

    A diverse coalition of progressive and Indigenous figures and organizations on Monday celebrated the Senate’s confirmation of Deb Haaland to head the Department of the Interior — making the New Mexico Democrat and Green New Deal supporter the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history.

    She was confirmed by a 51-40 vote in which only a handful of Republicans joined with all members of the Democratic caucus who were present; nine lawmakers, including three Democrats, did not vote. “I look forward to collaborating with all of you,” Haaland said in a tweet directed at senators. “I am ready to serve.”

    While climate justice and Indigenous rights advocates have praised President Joe Biden’s selection of the congresswoman to lead a department that oversees hundreds of million of as “a perfect choice,” both conservative Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns about her positions on fossil fuels.

    “It’s clear that Big Oil was afraid of her confirmation — and for good reason,” said David Turnbull, strategic communications director at Oil Change International. “The nine senators that voted against her confirmation on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee have on average accepted nearly $900,000 from Big Oil, Coal, and Gas over the course of their careers.”

    “The confirmation of Deb Haaland as secretary of the interior is a tremendous win for Indigenous communities, the waters, parks, and lands across our country, and the climate,” he added. “Haaland is a proven climate champion, and will usher in a new era of climate leadership in the Department of the Interior, reversing the tide of the last four years of dirty energy policies enacted by the Trump administration.”

    Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter similarly welcomed Haaland’s appointment as an opportunity to depart from the planet-wrecking agenda of former President Donald Trump — whose attacks on climate and environmental policies led some campaigners and experts to back Biden’s presidential bid.

    “Deb Haaland’s historic, pathbreaking confirmation is a victory for Indigenous communities, for the climate movement, and for everyone who wants to undo the Trump-era assault on our air and water,” said Hauter. “The massive outpouring of public support for Haaland is a testament to her uncompromising record and her clear commitment to ending the exploitation of public lands by fossil fuel corporations.”

    “Biden’s unambiguous call to end fracking on public lands must now become a priority for the White House,” she said. “There is no one better to lead on this issue than Deb Haaland, who understands that our transition away from fossil fuels is an environmental justice priority and a climate necessity.”

    “In Congress, Rep. Haaland has demonstrated a deep concern for environmental justice, conservation, and climate change,” said Kathleen Rest, executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We look forward to working with the new secretary of the interior to protect our nation’s ecosystems, cultural heritage, and the climate — for the benefit of communities across the country, including tribes.”

    Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, lauded Biden for listening to “the Indigenous movement groups and allies that pushed for her confirmation, despite the Senate Republicans’ unfair, aggressive campaign against her.”

    “Haaland is not only one of the first co-sponsors of the Green New Deal,” Prakash pointed out, “but she believes that achieving Indigenous sovereignty over stolen land is instrumental to transforming our economy and stopping the climate crisis.”

    “Now, she must wield her power to crack down on fossil fuel corporations and evict companies that drill for oil on public lands and in public waters,” the activist added. “We are excited to see the progress she makes and will be standing with her as she pushes us closer to the vision of a Green New Deal.”

    Sarah McMillan, WildEarth Guardians’ conservation director, and Adam Kolton, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League, highlighted the significance of not only Haaland’s well established positions on dirty energy and land management, but also the perspective she brings as an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo.

    “We congratulate Secretary Deb Haaland and celebrate this historic and momentous day when the Department of Interior, which manages more than 450 million acres and houses the Bureau of Indian Affairs, finally has an Indigenous woman to lead the way,” said McMillan. “As our country is finally awakening to the injustices that Indigenous people have endured, and in the throes of a climate and nature crisis, we must chart a new path after four years of out-of-control exploitation and devastation.”

    As Kolton put it: “We cannot right the wrongs of colonization or undo the history of violence toward and the displacement of Indigenous peoples in our country. But the confirmation of the first Native American to lead any U.S. Cabinet agency, particularly one that is responsible for the stewardship of millions of acres of once stolen and now public land, is a historic and hopeful moment.”

    “Haaland brings to the job an understanding of the Native American experience and a deep personal connection and commitment to preserving the lands and waters that sustain people and communities across the country,” he added. “She was the first U.S. representative to champion the need to pursue an ambitious national goal of conserving 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, and as interior secretary she will play a critical role in implementing President Biden’s ambitious conservation agenda, confronting the climate crisis, and advancing the cause of environmental justice.”

    A host of conservation groups in the state she represented in Congress — including New Mexico Wildlife Federation, New Mexico Wild, and Conservation Voters New Mexico — also applauded Haaland’s confirmation.

    “The global climate crisis is attributed to settler colonialism and the exploitation of natural resources cultivated from stolen Indigenous landscapes and the mismanagement of those resources,” said Pueblo Action Alliance director Julia Bernal. “There needs to be a paradigm shift and having a Pueblo Indigenous feminist perspective in this Cabinet position could instill a lot of hope for meaningful tribal consultation and more importantly tribal consent.”

    Bernal explained that “Haaland will bring that worldview into land and water management practices that will work towards a just transition to a cleaner energy economy and more equitable approaches to better frontline and Indigenous communities who have suffered from the presence of the oil and gas industry.”

    Noting the department’s widely criticized history on interacting with tribes, she added that “places like Chaco Canyon and Bears Ears and the waterways that supply Indigenous people in the Southwest could have longer standing chances if they are managed through a Pueblo Indigenous feminist perspective that implement[s] core values like respect and reciprocity and give[s] personhood to our waterways.”

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.