PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:
March 2, 2009

Nation’s Tribes Asking Congress for Swift
Action on Climate Legislation
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Federally-recognized tribes -- sovereign nations with certain rights ensured by the U.S. Con-stitution, treaties and legal precedence -- are facing the immediate, adverse impacts of climate change. Congress is also moving swiftly to draft and enact comprehensive legislation that would take measurable steps to address this adverse change and move the country away from uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions. To best insure that tribal needs and con-cerns are adequately addressed in such legislation, the National Tribal Environmental Coun-cil has developed the following tribal principles for climate legislation in partnership with the National Congress of American Indians, Native American Rights Fund and National Wildlife Federation. It is our sincere hope that Congress and the President will take notice of these principles so as to properly incorporate Indian tribes into future legislative and non-legislative efforts to address climate change.

• Indian tribes, as defined in the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, must be sovereign partners in assessing and addressing the problem of climate change at the national and international levels. Legislation must accord tribes, and other indigenous peoples worldwide, at least the status and rights recognized in the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international law.

• Indian tribes shall be provided equitable access to the same financial and technical resources provided to states and local governments, without having to obtain treatmentas- a-state (TAS) status or meet a similar burden, to access such resources.

• Indian tribes shall be provided adequate resources by the federal government to enable them to assess the adverse impacts of climate change on their culture and resources, and in partnership with others, where appropriate, to address those impacts through adaptation and mitigation measures that will ensure the integrity of their cultures, homelands, infrastructures, services, natural resources, and off-reservation resources. These resources shall specifically include those necessary to gather the traditional tribal knowledge necessary to this process, with this knowledge given proper weight in assessing and addressing climate change.

• A set-aside of direct monies or allowances, amounting to five percent of the value of all allowances provided for under the legislation, shall be made available for distribution to Indian tribes. In accordance with a negotiated rulemaking process, a federal-tribal advisory committee shall design and manage a program for the implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies to address climate change, which shall include criteria as to how tribes would qualify for a monetary or allowance distribution. Tribes shall have their choice of direct monies or allowances, and considerable discretion in how to use such monies or allowances. This set-aside is justified by the disproportionate impact of climate change on tribes, the difficult economic situation of many tribes, the fact that their survival as peoples depends on safeguarding their resources on and off tribal lands, and the federal trust responsibility to tribes.

• Indian tribes shall have direct, open access to the necessary resources to actively engage in renewable energy development, enact and implement energy efficiency building codes, and provide green job transition assistance for tribal members.

• The federal tax code shall allow Indian tribes to take advantage of opportunities available to other entities.

• Indian tribes shall have direct open access to the necessary resources to improve their transportation, health, housing, water, and other infrastructures.

• Alaska Native Villages shall have direct, open access to funding and technical assistance to relocate those communities threatened by climate change, with their free prior and informed consent.

• Indian tribes shall have direct, open access to the resources provided for under any offsets program.

National Tribal Environmental Council
4520 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Suite 3
Albuquerque, NM 87109
(505) 242-2175 Ofc (505) 242-2654 Fax
www.ntec.org
Contact Us At: info@ntec.org