Good morning, NUNAverse:
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) approval of Enbridge’s Line 3 is valid. The Red Lake Indian Nation, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and other organizations challenged the PUC’s approval of the controversial Line 3 replacement project by filing an appeal. Yesterday, Enbridge delivered a letter to Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson citing Fire Light Camp and those camping there in protest of the project are trespassing. Fire Light Camp was founded on June 7 after a demonstration brought more than 2,000 people to northern Minnesota to protest against Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement project. Many, including Ojibwe tribes, argue that the project threatens many waterways and, therefore, their treaty rights.
While the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act is designed to soften and relieve the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unclear how the funding requirements will compare to the 2020 CARES Act. The Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation is holding 1-hour webinars every two weeks, which are open to the public, on how tribal nations and tribal-affiliated nonprofits can navigate and make the most of the opportunities. The first two sessions were held May 26 and June 9.
Last week, Native Youth from New Mexico’s 23 Native nations, tribes, and pueblos provided ideas for future government initiatives and received strategies to improve their mental health at the virtual 2021 Indigenous Youth Wellness Summit. Youth participants shared successful ways in which their tribal governments responded to the pandemic, the need to increase awareness of existing mental health resources, and their experiences during the pandemic, according to Kalee Salazar, the Special Projects Coordinator of the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department (NMIAD).
Advocates in southern Nevada are building momentum toward setting aside a wide desert area rich with biological diversity and Native cultural significance for permanent environmental protection. Conservation advocates providing a tour of the 5,000-square-foot (465-square-meter) homesite on June 9 said they saw hope in President Joe Biden’s administration that the area will be preserved. From the site of the tour and information session, Spirit Mountain was visible in the distance on the eastern boundary of the proposed monument. It is called “Avi Kwa Ame” by the Fort Mojave Tribe, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a sacred place to tribes.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Law:
Minnesota Court Of Appeals Upholds Permits For Enbridge’s Line 3; With Eviction Notice Due To Expire, Water Protectors Vow To Stay Camped At The Banks Of The Mississippi
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, June 14
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) approval of Enbridge’s Line 3 is valid. The Red Lake Indian Nation, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Minnesota Department of Commerce and other organizations challenged the PUC’s approval of the controversial Line 3 replacement project by filing an appeal. Yesterday, Enbridge delivered a letter to Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson citing Fire Light Camp and those camping there are trespassing. Fire Light Camp was founded on June 7th after a demonstration brought more than 2,000 people to northern Minnesota to protest against Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement project. Many, including Ojibwe tribes, argue that the project threatens many waterways and, therefore, their treaty rights.
Minnesota Court Affirms Enbridge Line 3
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, June 14
The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed state regulators’ key approvals of Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project, in a dispute that drew more than 1,000 water protectors opposing the project last week. A three-judge panel concluded 2-1 that the state’s independent Public Utilities Commission correctly granted Enbridge the certificate of need and route permit that the Canadian-based company needed to begin construction on the 337-mile Minnesota segment of Line 3. Although Enbridge describes the project as a replacement effort to replace a 1960s-era crude oil pipeline that has deteriorated and can run at only half-capacity, opponents say that the new line in in effect a new pipeline, with a larger circumference designed to carry tar sands oil. Several bands of Minnesota Ojibwe, environmental groups and the Minnesota Department of Commerce had asked the appeals court to reject the Public Utilities Commission approvals, arguing that Enbridge’s oil demand projects failed to meet legal requirements. The court, however, said there was reasonable evidence to support the commission’s decision.
Other:
Tribal Leaders, Experts Talk American Rescue Plan’s Impact
Indian Country Today, Joaqlin Estus, June 14
Is new federal funding going to be easier to spend than last year’s COVID aid? Tribes and multitudes of others will be finding out in coming months and years. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act is designed to soften and relieve pandemic impacts. The bill signed into law on March 11 allocates money for everything from cybersecurity, unemployment benefits, and homeland security to potable water. Recipients will include health care providers, small businesses, home-owners and renters, airports, schools, and state and local governments, among others. Of the rescue funds, about 1.5 percent, or an estimated $32 billion, will go to Indian Country.
Advocates Work Toward New Southern Nevada National Monument
AP News, June 14
Advocates in southern Nevada are building momentum toward setting aside a wide desert area rich with biological diversity and Native American cultural significance for permanent environmental protection. The site would be called Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and encompass a Spanish Colonial Revival house that once belonged to 1920s-era Hollywood actors Clara Bow and Rex Bell on their historic Walking Box Ranch. The rugged and dry landscape is dotted with Joshua trees between mountain ranges west of Searchlight. At more than 594 square miles (1,538 square kilometers), it covers an area larger than San Francisco Bay.
New Mexico Listens To Native Youth To Find Solutions To Epidemic Of Mental Health Issues
Native News Online, Andrew Kennard, June 14
Last week, Native youth from New Mexico’s 23 Native nations, tribes, and pueblos provided ideas for future government initiatives and received strategies to improve their mental health at the virtual 2021 Indigenous Youth Wellness Summit. Youth participants shared successful ways in which their tribal governments responded to the pandemic, the need to increase awareness of existing mental health resources, and their experiences during the pandemic, according to Kalee Salazar, the Special Projects Coordinator of the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department (NMIAD).
‘I Call It Genocide’: Tribal Members Gather To Pray, Share In Spokane After Kamloops Mass Grave Discovery
The Spokesman-Review, Colin Tiernan, June 14
Leon Eagle Tail felt a wave of emotions two weeks ago when news broke about a mass grave at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. As sad as Eagle Tail was to hear about the 215 children discovered by ground-penetrating radar, he wasn’t surprised. When the A’aninin tribal elder was a kid on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, he saw sobbing 4- and 5-year-olds torn away from their distraught mothers and bused off to boarding schools like the one in Kamloops. Eagle Tail decided to call a vigil Sunday at The Gathering Place near Spokane Falls so people could sing, share memories, heal and pray after the centuries of trauma boarding schools like the one in Kamloops caused. Dozens of people attended the vigil. Some played music, sang songs or recited prayers in their native languages. The beat of drums occasionally rattled the chests of visitors.