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Yet for the project proponent, locating these Indian reservation boundaries is only a first step.

Of the 573 Native American and Alaska Native tribes officially recognized by the federal government today, about 325 retain a land base of some kind, often in federal trust status, meaning the land cannot be sold or transferred to others without Congressional approval. The rule of thumb is that if a project needs federal permission to proceed, the federal agency considering it must identify the tribes in the project area and consult with them in a meaningful fashion before making any final decisions.Įnergy and mining companies, utilities, highway authorities, telecommunications providers, and other project proponents are frequently caught off-guard by the tribal consultation requirement, particularly in parts of the United States located hundreds of miles away from the nearest Indian reservation.

This is true whether the project is on public or private land. On the contrary, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), along with many other federal laws, mandate that the lead agency on each project must consult with all affected Indian tribes, on a government-to-government basis. The project need not be on tribal land for the tribal consultation requirement to apply. Army Corps of Engineers, for instance, or a certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a new natural gas pipeline – the tribal consultation requirement kicks in. Whenever a given project requires some sort of federal approval – a water-crossing permit from the U.S. “Tribal consultation” refers to the federal government’s legal obligation to consult with Native American tribes on energy and infrastructure projects, such as highways and railroads, pipelines, telecommunications towers and systems, and electrical transmission lines.