Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its National Transmission Needs Study (Needs Study), which concludes that there is a pressing need for additional transmission infrastructure. That need is expected to...more
The U.S. Supreme Court, on May 25, 2023, narrowed the reach of the Clean Water Act, in the latest judicial effort to define the “waters of the United States” that Congress intended to regulate. Sackett v. Environmental...more
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a combined Notice of Intent and Request for Information (NOI) on May 9, 2023, that proposes a new applicant-driven, route-specific process to designate National Interest Electric...more
5/18/2023
/ Applications ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Electricity ,
Energy Sector ,
Financing ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
Loans ,
NEPA ,
Notice of Intent ,
Power Grid ,
Request For Information ,
Transmission Lines
Alaskans should prepare for major changes to the unique legal framework governing tribal lands in Alaska. In mid-November, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that it can acquire lands in trust for Alaska’s...more
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has proposed revising the regulations governing the acquisition of land into trust for Indian tribes. The proposed revisions, if adopted, would streamline the fee-to-trust process and eliminate...more
In July 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the state of Washington violated tribal treaty obligations by building and maintaining barrier culverts that block 1,000 linear miles of streams suitable...more
A majority panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently dismissed the State of Alaska’s challenge to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s authority to acquire land in trust for Alaska...more
7/8/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Alaska ,
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Department of the Interior ,
Due Process ,
Environmental Policies ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Native American Issues ,
Tribal Lands
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the state of Washington violated tribal treaty obligations by building and maintaining barrier culverts that block 1,000 linear miles of streams suitable...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced an updated Native American policy on January 27, 2016, which provides a framework for government-to-government relationships to further the federal government’s trust...more
After decades of interpreting the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) to preclude the federal government’s acquisition of land in trust for tribes in Alaska, on May 1, 2014, the Bureau of Indian Affairs...more
In a decision that has been nearly thirteen years in the making, on March 14, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service...more
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that, if adopted, will substantially alter the rights of those who would challenge a decision by the BIA to acquire land in trust for an...more