Native Americans in the home state of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), one of the co-sponsors of the Senate industrial-expediting bill, have forcefully rejected the legislation. The All Pueblo Council of Governors unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), because it “rewrites the laws that protect our cultural resources, our water, and our community.”
Speaking at a National Council of American Indians press conference on Monday, October 19th, Charles Riley, governor from the Pueblo Acoma, announced the New Mexico tribes’ opposition to BAAJA, and noted that his tribe was not consulted, “as many tribes across the country were not.” He called out the bill’s radical changes to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and also the bill’s rewriting of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act.
Watch:
“Acoma is not against permitting reform,” Governor Riley concluded. “We ask Congress and the New Mexico delegation in particular to consult with the Pueblos and amend this bill before the Senate acts on it.”
Full transcript:
Good afternoon.My name is Charles Riley. I’m the governor from the Pueblo Acoma. I hope you and all your loved ones and all your relations are doing well this afternoon.
The All Pueblo Council of Governors has unanimously adopted a resolution opposing Senate bill 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs act as introduced. Acoma stands with the Council and my fellow governors. Acoma was not consulted on this bill, as many tribes across the country were not. It rewrites the laws that protect our cultural resources, our water, and our community. No one asked the Pueblos on how these changes would affect us before it was introduced on September 30th.
The National Historic Preservation Act has protected places that matter to tribes for 60 years. Since 1992, it has required federal agencies to consult with tribes that attach religious and cultural significance to places a project may affect. Acoma relies on these laws and on the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act to protect Mount Taylor, the greater Choco landscape and the water that our people depend on.
Many of these places are outside our reservation or our lands. Federal law is how we have a voice when a mine, a pipeline or a transmission line is proposed that impacts our cultural resources, our sacred sites and our communities directly. This bill would take away most of that. Harm would only count if a project directly alters a historic site. Effects that combine with other existing or future projects would not count. A place of traditional religious and cultural importance would be defined as a spot where a particular event occurred. That is not how our people understand a mountain like Mount Taylor, Kaweshtima in our language.
Tribes would have 30 days to respond when an agency begins its review. If the agency decides on its own that a project will cause no harm, even because it missed a place that matters to us, the bill would not require the agency to consult with us further. The Department of Interior could cut funding to our tribal historic preservation offices and eventually take it over if it decides that the office is not meeting the bill’s timelines. Our preservation staff would have to choose choose between speaking up about a site that the agency missed and be blamed for delay.
If we go to court, we would have 150 days to file and the court would have to give the agency substantial deference. Even if we prove that the approval was unlawful, it will stay in place while the agency reviewed it.
The bill would also narrow what tribes can require under the Clean Water Act to protect our waters.
Shutting tribes out will not make projects move faster. It will bring more conflict over problems that early consultation could have resolved.
Acoma is not against permitting reform. We ask Congress and the New Mexico delegation in particular to consult with the Pueblos and amend this bill before the Senate acts on it.
Thank you very much.