IN EARLY MARCH, five hours into a markup hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee, a conversation about an energy bill evolved into an existential half-hour debate on “meaningful tribal consultation.” It began when Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, introduced an amendment to add consultation language to the bill, though she assured the Republican-controlled committee that she had no “delusions that the amendment is going to pass.”
Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman, the chair of the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs and Wyoming’s sole House member, argued against it, prompting a question from Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai’i: “As the chair of our subcommittee of jurisdiction, I ask whether you generally are supportive of some obligation of including Indigenous peoples in our country in decisions affecting them?”
“It depends on
