Laws & Regulations

"Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves. Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call a suffocating federal bureaucracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive interviews."

"A Native American leader asked thousands of protesters to return home after the federal government ruled against a controversial pipeline, despite the prospect of President-elect Donald Trump reversing the decision after he takes office."

"Lawmakers reached a deal on a massive waterways bill that provides drought relief for California and emergency aid for the lead-stricken community of Flint, Mich."

"With the clock running out on President Obama's administration, the White House is pushing out dozens of new rules that include land management, executive bonuses, private sector pay and energy efficiency."

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Sunday it turned down a permit for a controversial pipeline project running through North Dakota, in a victory for Native Americans and climate activists who have protested against the project for several months."

"Donald Trump calls re-starting the Keystone project a priority, but landowners are ready to renew their legal opposition to TransCanada's pipeline."

"Princess Cruise Lines has agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges and pay a $40 million penalty for polluting the ocean with waste and then trying to cover it up. Federal prosecutors said the payment represents the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate pollution by a ship at sea."

"U.S. EPA released a plan yesterday for setting objectives to protect the nation's drinking water. The blueprint lays out how federal, state, tribal and local agencies, as well as the private and nonprofit sectors, can address six initiatives."

"The assassination of Goldman Prize-winning activist Berta Cáceres last March shocked the global community. But in her home country of Honduras, where more than 100 activists have been cut down in the past five years, it was business as usual."

"Eighteen states are challenging the Obama administration's recent changes to critical habitat rules, asserting they allow the federal government to designate 'entire states' as habitat for imperiled species."