Deb Haaland

We appreciate the immediate one-year pause in new fossil fuel leasing.

Mr. Hodapp, you sat here and misrepresented your alleged consultation with the Tohono O'odham Tribe, and I take issue with that.

It is wrong. It is sacrilegious. And it is not who we are as Americans.

This irreparably ruins over 1,000 years of Indigenous culture and ceremonial sites. It is a complete failure of the Federal Government's trust responsibility and lack of respect for Native people in this country.

This disrespect for our sacred sites and their desecration at the hands of our Federal Government is deeply painful.

You mention in your testimony that the Department will strive to 'provide effective collaboration and establish an avenue for the Department's land management interests to be considered in ongoing border security efforts with DHS and the…

Any departure from this policy flies in the face of established political and societal norms and violates our civil and human rights.

Will you commit today that the Department will support the program, and can you tell us a timeline for the implementation of this program?

No waivers for tribal consultation.

Those of us in Indian Country know that when Federal agencies fail or refuse to engage in tribal consultation on a project, mistrust can result.

It is shameful and it is immoral.

It is imperative that our country aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and public lands and waters are both a significant source of emissions.

In FY2020 Congress appropriated $50 million dollars towards the Defense Community Infrastructure Program.

The United States must amend its current policies for land development and create legislation that mandates sustainability and environmental protection--not just when it is convenient but consistently and all-of-the-time.

And the idea that this land that is hallowed ground could be used for this type of training, it is really sacrilegious, in a way, to the people whose lives you will affect.

Their ancestors are buried there. And I hope you understand that as well, that when you have people buried, it becomes hallowed ground.

I feel that we need to actually hear from the Tribes here, or have their report in the record.

You understand that we are on Indian land right now, and every single inch of this country was Indian land long before it was ever the United States of America.

It is just concerning to me that the Navy could craft their end-product proposal, having it essentially ready to come up here, and then call a few conversations with Tribal leaders 'consultation.' That is not consultation. It is not just a…

Consultation and community engagement has to come first, especially when sacred lands are involved.

It is almost like Tribes are an afterthought, when they should be a forethought.

These are sacred homelands and resources for Native Americans, who have been on this land long before this was ever a country.

Fox Peak is a highly sacred site to the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe, and the BLM has identified this area as a special Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

I think that would be a good question to ask.

Hateful ideologies of any kind have no place in our military.