West River Eagle

CRST and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hold infrastructure Tribal Consultation Friday January 13




On Friday, January 13 representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will be holding a Tribal Consultation concerning the development of infrastructure on tribal land with CRST Chairman Frazier in a formal meeting, said CRST Intergovernmental Affairs spokesperson Remi Bald Eagle. 


According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs website, the consultations are not open to the public.


CRST has already had one consultation with the Corps of Engineers in Rapid City in October.  


The dispute with the Dakota Access Pipeline Company in 2016 came to a boiling point in September, resulting in the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of Interior issued a letter September 9 stating, “The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws.  Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time.” 


In addition, the letter indicated, “Furthermore, this case has highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.  Therefore, this fall, we will invite tribes to formal, government-to-government consultations on two questions:  (1) within the existing statutory framework, what should the federal government do to better ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related reviews and decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources, and treaty rights; and (2) should new legislation be proposed to Congress to alter that statutory framework and promote those goals.”


CRST participated in one such meeting on November 17, 2016 in Rapid City at which the following Federal Agencies were represented: Department of Interior, Department of Justice, USACE, Advisory Council of Historic Preservation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, Department of Energy, and the Federal Aviation Administration. 


Prior to the scheduled consultations, the tribes were invited to submit comments pertaining to the issues tribes have concerning their roles and involvement in infrastructure development decision-making processes on or near tribal lands. 


CRST’s comments presented a history of Treaties establishing the Lakota (Sioux) territories, which extend far beyond the current reservation boundaries. 


“The treaties predate the current reservation boundaries and the current location of the many Sioux bands on their present-day reservations. The treaties were signed by the many bands of the Sioux people in common and set forth expansive treaty boundaries that are common to many bands.


“Consequently, the Sioux people’s treaty territory is broader than the present-day reservation boundaries, and the treaty rights in this territory are shared in common among all of the signatories to the treaties,” CRST Chairman Harold Frazier explained in the comments. 


The consultation comments also lay out what the tribe believes is the responsibility of tribal and federal government agencies, indicating, “There must be strong minimum standards for implementation and development of consultation policies across federal agencies” to address the inconsistency of implementation and the lack of strong policies across federal agencies. 


“Consultation must be tailored to treaty rights and must consider all treaty signatories,” Frazier writes in the comments. 


Tribes from across the United States have submitted their own comments and had consultations with federal agencies. 


Bald Eagle said that CRST has tried to have a representative at all of these meetings to keep abreast of the different discussions and ideas coming from tribes all over the United States. 


Transcripts of the meetings and comments are available to the public at bia.gov, under the link on the right side of the page, “Consultation on Federal Infrastructure Projects.” 



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