Udall’s new post could help tribal concerns

Come next year, Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, will be the top Democrat in the Senate committee that works on issues in Native American communities. And amid ongoing resistance to an oil pipeline in North Dakota and growing concerns about future fracking around Chaco Canyon, Udall is hoping to preserve a sense of bipartisanship in Washington to continue fighting for New Mexico tribes.

Udall spoke with The Taos News in a Dec. 12 phone interview.

While action on big-ticket legislation is often mired in gridlock, Udall said the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has historically enjoyed “a more bipartisan” nature than much of the rest of Congress.

That unique relationship means he’s well poised to use his position as the vice chairman to “fight for Native American rights” in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, he said.

“I’m also concerned about what [Trump’s] relationships might be. This committee stands up to what- ever administration, Democrat or Republican. We feel good about the responsibility we’ve been given to tackle these very important tasks,” he said.

The committee, which handles all legislation related to Indian Country, can leverage its power in scheduling hearings and lining up legislation. Udall said he’ll use that procedural influence to center concerns, namely through tribal consultations—formal sit-downs to hear from and work directly with tribe communities.

The need for more frequent, thorough and robust tribal consultations came to the forefront of national attention in recent months as thousands of Native American water protectors and their non-Native allies formed frontline camps in order to resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a crude oil pipeline that is mostly com- plete and is located within half of 1 mile of the modern border of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Officials with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and many resistance organizers have made repeated calls to the Obama administration and branches of the fed to listen and respond to the concerns of tribes, especially around protecting water quality and honoring treaties with sovereign nations.

Last week, a high-ranking official with the Department of the Army denied a crucial easement needed to complete a section of the DAPL “to allow for discussion with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.” The decision was heralded as a victory, even while some organizers in North Dakota will continue to occupy land near the pipeline construction.

But direct communication with tribes and Native American communities is just as important in his home state, Udall said.

“We see this in New Mexico quite a bit ... [the federal government] needing additional consultation with tribes on [decisions] that impact their everyday lives,” Udall said.

Udall said he sees progress when it comes to communicating with tribal governments and communities. At the national level, he touted the

White House Tribal Nations Conference in September and several listening sessions held around the country, including one that took place in Albuquerque.

Udall also welcomed a series of meetings in Navajo Nation organized by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to address concerns related to oil and gas development — and its impacts to water, land, cultural resources and tribal communities — in Western New Mexico. Following a visit to Chaco Canyon last year, Udall requested the Department of Interior hear from communities in the area.

Those scoping meetings, which were held in different Navajo Nation chapters and are different than formal government-to-government consultations, have not been flawless.

The BLM reportedly walked out of the first of eight meetings, which took place in Shiprock in early November. The director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance told The Durango Herald at the time that the meeting followed a pattern of “failed” engagement with tribal communities.

After that first meeting, which fanned the frustrations of many in attendance, the BLM and BIA added a section to the planned scoping meetings in order to better solicit feedback. The agencies also scheduled two additional scoping meetings in addition to having a formal consultation with the Navajo Nation president and agency officials.

And with more than 550 federally recognized tribes in the United States, the size of a tribe is another factor that could hinder comprehensive tribal consultations.

According to the 2010 census, there are more than 332,000 people who are Navajo (not all live in Navajo Nation). New Mexico’s pueblos are much smaller. Taos Pueblo has a population of about 1,100 people, while Picuris Pueblo — the smallest pueblo in New Mexico — has fewer than 100 residents, according to the census.

“All tribes should have the same status in terms of consultation. That should happen throughout the government whether the tribe’s large or small,” Udall said.