Washington: The Biden administration will resume the annual summit with leaders from 574 US tribes this fall to hold high-level talks on key issues, the White House said in a press release.
“White House today announced that it will hold a White House Tribal Leaders Summit in late 2021,” the release said on Friday. “The purpose of the Summit is to provide an opportunity for the leaders from the 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations to have an opportunity to interact directly with the President and representatives from the highest levels of the Administration.”
Former President Donald Trump had terminated the annual in-person meetings held between high-level government officials and tribal leaders.
Earlier on Friday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and US adviser Susan Rice held the administration’s first White House Council on Native American Affairs meeting to internally discuss important issues concerning climate change, Tribal homelands and treaties; economic development, energy and infrastructure; health; education; public safety and justice; and international Indigenous issues, the release said.
US tribes such as the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes recently expressed disappointment over the Biden administration’s decision in early April to refuse to shutdown the $3.7 billion Dakota Access pipeline amid an ongoing legal battle with tribes over environmental concerns.
US Judge James Boasberg during a court hearing delayed a decision about whether to allow the Dakota Access pipeline to continue operating in order to give the project’s developer Energy Transfer LP ten days to update the information provided to the court about the potential economic consequences associated with shutting down the pipeline.
