Tribes Say FCC's NEPA Proposals Violate Principles of Tribal Consultation
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe slammed the FCC’s approach to seeking tribal input on how the agency enforces National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act rules, according to a letter posted Monday in docket 25-217. Comments in the proceeding, due last week, showed tribes and states leading the opposition to proposals included in an August NPRM (see 2509190053), part of a broader Trump administration move to limit enforcement of environmental laws.
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The proposed limitations violate long-standing treaties with the U.S. government, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe argued. “The extensive, 66-page document presented for tribal input is not a good-faith effort at Tribal Consultation, but an unreasonable and onerous burden,” it said. “Such a lengthy and complex document, laden with dense technical and legal jargon, creates a significant and unnecessary barrier to meaningful engagement. Tribal nations, many with limited staff and resources, should not be expected to parse through hundreds of pages of material to provide feedback on critical policy issues.”
The tribe added that the request for input is “fundamentally at odds with the principles of Tribal Consultation and self-determination, serving only to hinder, rather than facilitate, a productive government-to-government dialogue.”
Other American Indian groups raised similar concerns in their filings. “It is our position that the Commission has yet to engage in adequate consultation,” the National Congress of American Indians said. In July, the FCC’s Office of Native American Programs hosted a virtual call for tribal leaders and tribal historic preservation officers, the group noted, but it “was plagued with poor reception, intentional one-way viewing and a lack of any actual agency decision makers.”
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said that despite the legal requirements and obligations of the U.S., the proposals “fail to comply with even the most basic requirements of the Commission’s Tribal Consultation Policy.” The FCC “cannot simply ignore federal law and its Treaty and trust obligations to the Tribe.”