The WAGLAC summer meeting will be held in conjunction with the AGA 2021 Annual Meeting. On June 15th, CWAG Attorneys General will host a series of panels on water, environmental and Native American issues. This in-person convening will be broadcast live, link to be shared in the coming months. 

Please email Andrea Friedman at AFriedman@AGAlliance.org for more information.

"On April 23, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice will convene the first White House Council on Native American Affairs (WHCNAA) meeting of the Biden-Harris administration. Secretary Haaland will serve as the Council’s Chair.

“The White House Council on Native American Affairs will maximize federal efforts to support Tribal Nations as they tackle pressing issues, such as COVID-19 response, reopening schools and rebuilding Tribal economic development,” said Ambassador Rice.

“This inter-agency Council reinforces the Administration’s support for Tribal sovereignty and self-governance and will help to fulfill the Federal trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations.”

April 12, 2021

"A bill New Mexico Democrats pushed as allowing for greater state control of environmental regulations was signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham following the 2021 Legislative Session.

Senate Bill 8 allowed the State to set environmental standards “more stringent” than federal law, a change from how the law is currently written to allow state regulations by “no more stringent” than policies enacted at the federal level.

It passed the New Mexico Senate on a 23-15 vote and later the House of Representatives 39-29 before being signed into law on April 8."

April 14, 2021

"President Joe Biden's modest rollback of former President Donald Trump's border policies is attracting some novel legal challenges from anti-immigrant conservatives.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued the Biden administration in the U.S. District Court of Arizona over the federal government's pause on border wall construction and the decision to end a policy requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico.

Both policy changes, argues Brnovich, should have had to undergo the kinds of environmental review normally required of federal infrastructure projects because they would increase Arizona's population."

April 14, 2021

"Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued two Secretarial Orders to prioritize action on climate change throughout the Department and to restore transparency and integrity in the Department’s decision-making processes.  

Secretary Haaland also issued SO 3398, which revokes a series of Secretarial Orders issued in recent years that are inconsistent with the Department’s commitment to protect public health; conserve land, water, and wildlife; and elevate science. Collectively, those Orders tilted the balance of public land and ocean management without regard for climate change, equity, or community engagement. The new Order does not impact the Interior Department’s ongoing review of proposals for oil, gas, coal, and renewable energy development on public lands and waters."

April 14, 2021

"The White House announced the intent to nominate several officials to serve at the Department of the Interior, including:

April 17, 2021

" The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on."

Clay Smith, the American Indian Law Deskbook chief editor, summarizes Indian law decisions assigned headnotes by Westlaw to facilitate the Deskbook’s annual revision.

Please reach out to Clay for questions regarding obtaining a copy of the American Indian Law Deskbook.

If you are interested in following cannabis law developments, please sign up for the AG Alliance cannabis newsletter by emailing Cole White at CWhite@AGAlliance.org.

We rely on our readers to send us links for the WAGLAC Newsletter. If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two weeks) case, statute or article relating to natural resources, environment, Indian law or federalism that you would like us to consider for inclusion in the Newsletter, please send it to Clive Strong. For a complete database of all previously published WAGLAC newsletters, please follow the link below.