September 27, 2024

Warren, Markey Call On Ocean Management and Safety Agencies to Protect Native Land When Issuing Offshore Wind Leases

“As offshore wind projects have grown, some Tribes have raised environmental, cultural, and sovereignty concerns about the projects and noted the lack of meaningful Tribal consultation.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) urged the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to ensure close consultation with Native American Tribes throughout the process of developing offshore wind projects. The Biden Administration has made historic commitments to more robustly consult Tribes, seek consensus with Tribal Nations, and more intentionally incorporate Indigenous Knowledge in federal decision-making. However, Tribes have raised concerns that BOEM is not fulfilling the Biden Administration’s commitment to meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations during offshore wind projects. 

“It is imperative that Tribal Nations’ concerns are heard and effectively addressed during the development of federal decisions that have Tribal implications,” the senators said. They have asked BOEM to consult with Tribal governments throughout the development of offshore wind projects.

The senators called on BOEM to ensure dedicated government-to-government meetings with Tribes, financial and technical assistance to support Tribes to engage in resource-intensive consultation processes, and more. 

“We are supportive of increased assistance to better meet Tribal needs and encourage BOEM to help address the technical and staff capacity issues faced by Tribes, to ensure that they can adequately engage in and keep pace with project consultations,” the senators concluded. 

Senator Warren has supported efforts in Congress to protect Tribal culture, autonomy, and lands:

  • In March 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced new legislation to expand housing access for rural Tribal communities: the Tribal Rural Housing Access Act. 
  • In May 2023, Elizabeth Warren led 26 senators to reintroduce the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act, legislation that seeks healing for stolen Native children and their communities. 
  • In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Derek Kilmer unveiled the Honoring Promises to Native Nations Act, historic legislation to address chronic underfunding and barriers to sovereignty faced by Indian Country as a result of the federal government’s failures to meet its trust and treaty responsibilities. 
  • In August 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman Brian Schatz and Vice Chair Lisa Murkowski, and U.S. Representatives Sharice Davids and Tom Cole, co-chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus, along with a bipartisan, bicameral group of 82 additional members of Congress, in filing an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court defending the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in the pending case, Haaland v. Brackeen. 
  • In October 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and Representative Norma Torres in introducing legislation to replace the official holiday recognized on the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. 
  • In February 2022, Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey released a joint statement, celebrating the Biden Administration’s withdrawal of its appeal in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe v. Bernhardt. 
  • In October 2020, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Deb Haaland introduced the Extending Broadband Tribal Priority Act to allow Tribal Nations and Native Hawaiian organizations the time they need to apply for spectrum licenses for unassigned spectrum over their own lands—a critical step to expanding broadband access in their communities. 
  • In May 2020, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Congresswoman Deb Haaland in filing a bicameral, bipartisan amicus brief opposing the U.S. Department of the Interior's unprecedented action to remove the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's reservation land from trust status. 
  • In November 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Senator Jon Tester, member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA), in introducing S.2808, companion legislation to Congressman Tom Cole’s bill that would provide a fix to the 2009 Supreme Court case Carcieri v. Salazar, so that Tribal nations’ lands can be taken into trust and protected. A Carcieri fix would advance Tribal sovereignty and benefit Tribal economies. 
  • In August 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Deb Haaland, Co-Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus and the first Native woman to preside over the House floor during the 116th Congress released a proposal for a forthcoming bill, the Honoring Promises to Native Nations Act, which will address chronic underfunding and barriers to sovereignty in Indian Country and hold the federal government accountable for honoring America’s legal promises to Native peoples. 
  • In October 2018, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Vice Chairman Tom Udall in introducing the Native American Voting Rights Act of 2018, landmark legislation to provide the necessary resources and oversight to ensure Native Americans have equal access to the electoral process.
  • In May 2018, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Senator Martin Heinrich and ten other senators in calling on Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to improve its program that assists Native American veterans find a home in Indian Country and allow them to live near their families with access to culturally appropriate and traditional healing practices.

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