A House committee is heading out west to hear from Native American leaders over how their lack of control over energy production on tribal lands is harming tribes.
The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday in Santa Fe, N.M., at the state’s Capitol building. The hearing, titled Tribal Prosperity and Self-Determination through Energy Development, will focus on tribes’ desire for more control over fossil fuel production on their lands.
The hearing will focus on the beneficial impact of developing energy for tribes’ economies, how tribes manage their energy resources, federal regulation and lack of information given to tribes, a hearing notice says.
The hearing will mostly focus on legislation that has passed the House, the Native American Energy Act, and is a part of committee Chairman Rob Bishop’s plans to update Native American laws for the 21st century. The bill would streamline the process for leasing and developing energy production for tribes on their lands.
The hearing is one of the few being held among energy and environment committees in Congress next week. Lawmakers left the Capitol Wednesday to head back to their districts for the final stretch of campaign season. They don’t return until the week after the elections.
The bill was formed after a 2014 Government Accountability Office report on how the Department of Interior administrates energy development. The report showed at least one Native American tribe missed out on about $95 million in fossil fuel revenue because of delays in project development and increased costs caused by Interior.
Provisions were added after Native American tribes testified to the committee about how the Obama administration’s bureaucracy are hurting their ability to make money off their lands.
A companion bill to the House legislation passed the Senate, and now the two bills are a part of the comprehensive energy package being debated in a conference committee. Negotiations over that package are continuing and must be wrapped up before the end of the year to be signed into law by President Obama.
