Good Morning, NUNAverse,
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) budget task force says a fundamental change is needed in the way federal funding is allocated to tribes. So NCAI is developing principles for Congress to consider. Tribal leaders repeatedly have spoken up at Congressional hearings about the hardships imposed by chronic Congressional neglect of federal obligations to tribes and citizens. The NCAI budget task force, which is made up of tribal representatives, has developed 18 consensus draft policy statements for further discussion and development. Later the policy statements could be presented as a resolution for adoption by the delegates to NCAI. The policies would provide broad directions to the executive branch and to Congress on federal budgets and spending for tribal programs.
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a 2015 regulation called the Clean Power Plan exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority. The plan was intended to shift the country’s power sector toward sources that produce less carbon dioxide emissions. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “[forcing] a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day,’ ” quoting another decision. However, he wrote that the EPA incorrectly relied on a certain section of the Clean Air Act to enact the regulation. The Clean Power Plan would have shifted electricity generation to sources that release fewer emissions, the court explained. It favored the use of natural gas over coal, and the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind over either. An EPA fact sheet had estimated that by 2030, the policy would reduce carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% from 2005 levels. According to the EPA, electricity production is the second largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
On Wednesday, June 29, 1,000 acres of ancestral homeland in the Tully Valley in Central New York was returned to the Onondaga Nation. The land return – one of the largest transfers from a state to an Indigenous nation – was part of a 2018 Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration settlement. The settlement is an agreement between the Department of the Interior’s trustees, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the landowner, Honeywell International Inc., to transfer the land title back to the tribe. In 2005, the Onondaga Nation filed a federal lawsuit against the State of New York for taking 2.5 million acres of their homeland in violation of federal law and treaties between 1788 and 1822. The case was dismissed in 2010, and the Nation then brought the case to the International Court of Justice at the United Nations in 2014.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Politics:
A Clearer Roadmap For Federal Funding For Tribes
Indian Country Today, Joaqlin Estus, July 1
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) budget task force says a fundamental change is needed in the way federal funding is allocated to tribes. So NCAI is developing principles for Congress to consider when funding tribes. Tribal leaders repeatedly have spoken up at Congressional hearings about the hardships imposed by chronic Congressional neglect of federal obligations to tribes and citizens. In a July 2020 Congressional hearing, NCAI President Fawn Sharp quoted a U.S. Civil Rights Commission report on the impact of broken promises on Natives. She said, “chronic underfunding leaves many basic needs in the Native community unmet and contributes to the inequities observed in Native communities.” COVID threw that neglect into even sharper relief, she said. The crisis created disparities that made Natives vulnerable to the pandemic, Sharp said, “and resulted in our communities having the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rate in the United States.”
Law:
Supreme Court Limits Environmental Protection Agency’s Ability To Take Action On Climate Change
Native News Online, Andrew Kennard, June 30
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a 2015 regulation called the Clean Power Plan exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority. The plan was intended to shift the country’s power sector toward sources that produce less carbon dioxide emissions. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “[forcing] a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day,’ ” quoting another decision. However, he wrote that the EPA incorrectly relied on a certain section of the Clean Air Act to enact the regulation. The Clean Power Plan would have shifted electricity generation to sources that release fewer emissions, the court explained. It favored the use of natural gas over coal, and the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind over either. An EPA fact sheet had estimated that by 2030, the policy would reduce carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% from 2005 levels. According to the EPA, electricity production is the second largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Effort To Protect Tribes Affected By Federal Cannabis Laws Advances In Interior Appropriations Bill
Native News Online, June 30
Ohio Representative Dave Joyce announced that the legislation to fund the Department of the Interior, Environment, and related agencies for Fiscal Year 2023 includes critical language to protect the rights of tribes that have authorized the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of cannabis. “Enforcing Federal cannabis laws on tribal land, especially in cases where the tribe and the State have legalized cannabis use, is wrong and it needs to stop,” Joyce, the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, said. “These misguided enforcement actions have sent a chill through Indian Country – tribes are unsure if the federal government will continue to enforce and prioritize federal marijuana laws only on reservations. That’s why I worked closely with the Chair to include this important language to prevent Interior and Justice entities from enforcing federal marijuana laws inconsistent with tribal laws. Tribes are sovereign nations, and they have just as much of a right to enact and enforce their own laws as States do.”
Supreme Court’s Impact On Indian Country
Indian Country Today, June 30
The Supreme Court issued final opinions Thursday after a busy term that included cases affecting Indian Country directly and indirectly. Perhaps the biggest opinion was overturning Roe v. Wade’s guarantee of the right to an abortion. The high court will be back later this year to hear Texas v. Haaland, a case seeking to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act. Another case the court agreed to hear could change the way elections for Congress and the presidency are conducted by handing more power to state legislatures and blocking state courts from reviewing challenges to the procedures and results, according to the AP.
Boarding Schools:
Oneida Families To Hold Service For Relatives Buried At Carlisle Indian School
Native News Online, Andrew Kennard, June 30
A service on Sunday will honor the memories and lives of Frank Green and Paul Wheelock of the Oneida Nation, who were buried at the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania over 120 years ago. Native News Online reported in mid-June that the Army Corps of Engineers will return the remains of Green and seven other Indigenous children to their next of kin over the next few days. According to the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, Paul Wheelock passed away on May 14, 1900 and was buried in the cemetery at Carlisle. A weekly Carlisle school newspaper from the time says that Wheelock was 10 months old when he died from a severe cold, and that his father was the band director. Frank Green died on June 25, 1898 and was also buried in the school cemetery. According to documents published by the digital resource center, he was a teenager when he passed away after being hit by a train. He had run away from Carlisle the week before he was scheduled to go home. Three years ago, the Oneida Nation reclaimed the remains of three Oneida students who died at Carlisle. The nation said at the time that its cultural heritage and enrollment departments had identified 109 community members as descendants of tribal members who passed away while attending Carlisle over a century ago.
Other:
One Thousand Acres Returned To Onondaga Nation
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, June 30
On Wednesday, June 29, 1,000 acres of ancestral homeland in the Tully Valley in Central New York was returned to the Onondaga Nation. The land return–one of the largest transfers from a state to an Indigenous nation—was part of a 2018 Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration settlement. The settlement is an agreement between the Department of the Interior’s trustees U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the landowner, Honeywell International Inc., to transfer the land title back to the tribe. In 2005, the Onondaga Nation filed a federal lawsuit against the State of New York for taking 2.5 million acres of their homeland in violation of federal law and treaties between 1788 and 1822. The case was dismissed in 2010, and the Nation then brought the case to the International Court of Justice at the United Nations in 2014.
National Congress Of American Indian Adapts Resolution Supporting The Rights Of Nature
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, June 30
Earlier this month, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) adopted a resolution supporting the rights of nature at its mid-year conference in Anchorage, Alaska. The NCAI, founded in 1944, is the oldest and largest group representing American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments and communities. The resolution, developed by Menīkānaehkem and the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, asserts that Indigenous Peoples “authority and ability…to protect the natural environment is essential to our inherent sovereignty and self-determination,” an ability at risk “from the many environmental crises that we face today,” and exacerbated by “environmental laws [that] treat nature and Mother Earth as a non-living entity existing for human use.” Additionally, the resolution references tribal efforts already in effect to protect and enforce the rights of nature, including the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin’s resolution recognizing rights of the Menominee River; The White Earth Band of Ojibwe’s ‘Rights of Manoomin,’ (wild rice); The Yurok Tribe recognizing the rights of the Klamath River; and the Nez Perce recognized rights of the Snake River; and both The Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma and the Oneida Nation recognizing rights of nature laws and resolutions.