Coverage of tribal natural resources is supported in part by Catena FoundationLast week, more than a dozen tribes across the U.S. commented on a new proposal by the Trump administration to let developers obtain preliminary permits for hydropower projects on reservations in spite of tribal opposition.
This rule would apply to projects like dams, reservoirs and pump-storage facilities — all overseen by the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which, under a Biden-era rule, does not issue such permits without consent.
The regulator is being asked to change course by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
"He put tribes in the same sentence as third parties, and what that tells me is that there's that lack of respect," said Stewart Koyiyumptewa, who is the Hopi tribal historic preservation officer. "When FERC doesn't notify tribes of potential projects in the area, it undermines the tribe's resources, and makes way for litigation."
Koyiyumptewa wrote the tribe's "strong opposition" citing several reasons, stating the proposed rule could "introduce delays, inefficiency, and uncertainty into hydropower development processes."
"It makes us as tribal leaders start to really be protective and probably to a point where we become skeptics of people [who] approach us," added Hopi Councilmember LeRoy Shingoitewa, who chairs the tribe's Water and Energy Committee. "In the end, our role is to make sure that whatever is being proposed on our Hopi lands is going to benefit our Hopi people."
Vocal critics like Aaron Paul, staff attorney with the nonprofit Grand Canyon Trust, argue in his response that undoing the status quo would undermine tribal sovereignty — a sentiment shared by the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona.
"If you're a non-Indian rancher in Utah or Idaho, surely you want to have authority over whether hydropower gets built on your lands," Paul said. "And I just think it's incredibly disrespectful for the Secretary of Energy to think that some other policy should apply on tribal lands."
As for the Hopi's neighbors in northern Arizona, the Navajo Nation thinks dialogues with future developers have improved under the new status quo, according to Navajo Acting Assistant Attorney General Erika Pirotte.
"What we've seen is contrary to, I think, what was included in the letter for the request for rulemaking from the Secretary," she explained, "that the policy has not, in fact, hindered development on the Nation."
Before the Biden rule, Pirotte believed FERC had been "handing [preliminary permits] out like candy," insisting that a driving indicator for future business success on reservations is by "obtaining tribal consent early on."
Such permits do not give permission for construction to begin, but lots of these plans fall through later on for not being feasible. That tedious process, often taking decades, to consider projects that may never materialize is also an added strain for understaffed and underfunded tribes.
It's seen as burdensome bureaucracy.
Biden's FERC rule the Trump administration is trying to get rid of has been already used at least twice to deny permits in Arizona for the "Big Canyon Dam" in addition to three pumped hydro storage dams at Black Mesa near Kayenta — all on Navajoland.
At the same time, Pirotte mentioned that at least two proposed projects are now in the feasibility stage, noting "so if the concern is really wanting to promote development on tribal lands, respecting tribal sovereignty at the very early stages helps foster that, and we've seen that since 2024."
Pirotte, who penned her one-page brief, wants a 30-day extension. Tribes had only 17 days to reply with input while dealing with the longest U.S. government shutdown that resulted in widespread disruptions throughout Indian Country.
"We received notice of this, Oct. 27," she shared. "It's been a pretty tight turnaround. Our comment doesn't speak to all of that necessarily. It's why we're asking for a deadline extension."
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