WASHINGTON - America’s Indian tribes are working successfully with public and private utilities to deliver energy to millions of families throughout the country, according to a joint report just released by the federal Departments of Energy (DOE) and the Interior (DOI).

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which represents 70 percent of Indian tribes in the United States and the Denver-based Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), a consortium of 57 American and Canadian Indian tribes as well as former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell applauded the report for providing further evidence that the existing requirements for tribal consent should be upheld for energy rights-of-way across Indian lands.

“Indian reservations are no longer the places where the wires go through,” said Nighthorse Campbell. “Today Indian reservations are the places where the wires come from. Tribal governments are taking a significant and growing role as energy producers in this country.”

In his comments, Nighthorse Campbell described the efforts by some to overturn tribal consent as “an overreaction by a few in the energy industry to a single troubled negotiation between one company and one tribe. The study was driven by an unsubstantiated demand to resolve a problem that never existed to begin with.”

The six-month study performed by the DOE and DOI, with assistance from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, was conducted in consultation with Indian tribes, the energy industry, governmental agencies, and businesses and consumers.

NCAI President Joe Garcia and CERT Chairman Chris Devers were united in their assessment of the six-month study by the two departments issued to Congress earlier this month.

“The report drew three important conclusions,” said Garcia “First, the study’s findings unequivocally support tribal consent over Indian lands concerning energy rights-of-way. Second, it found no evidence to support claims that the tribes’ exercise of consent poses any threat to national security or that tribal right of consent might drive up the cost of energy for consumers. It noted, in fact, that the costs of transmitting energy across tribal lands are a tiny fraction of the price that energy consumers pay. Third, it found that the present process for rights-of-way negotiations is working fine. The report’s bottom line for Congress is that there is no need for changing the law.”

Garcia noted that the report will help members of Congress “understand the underpinnings of tribal consent so that they can put the current dispute involving one company and one tribe into its proper context.”

In the report, the DOI and DOE conclude “A tribe’s determination of whether to consent to an energy ROW across its land is an exercise of its sovereignty and an expression of self- determination. The implication of any reduction in the tribe’s authority to make that determination…would reduce the tribe’s authority and control over its land and resources…”

CERT Chairman Devers applauded the draft report for its balance and fairness.

“The report notes that while there are sometimes difficulties in negotiating rights-of-way, it is unlikely that these difficulties will lead to increased consumer costs or interference with the delivery of energy product to the open market,” said Devers. “The report also makes clear that if a threat to delivery of energy were to arise, there is adequate authority in place to address such an unlikely occurrence.”

NCAI and CERT leaders are urging tribal leaders to participate in one of the four upcoming meetings to discuss the draft study of energy rights-of-way on tribal land prepared by the Departments of the Interior and Energy.

The two departments are conducting meetings in Denver, CO (August 24), Salt Lake City, UT (August 25), Morongo, CA (August 28) and Albuquerque NM (August 30) to consult with tribes and other on the draft study.

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Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of more than 250 tribal governments, promoting strong tribal-federal government-to-government policies, and promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people and rights.