Sponsors (2)
The bill shifts permitting authority and negotiation power to tribes—speeding approvals and increasing tribal control and revenue—while reducing certain federal environmental reviews and liability protections, which raises environmental risks and regulatory uncertainty.
Tribal governments can authorize rights-of-way across their lands without prior Secretary approval if they adopt approved regulations, speeding local project approvals and increasing tribal decision-making authority.
Tribes gain direct control to set compensation and terms for rights-of-way by negotiation or tribal regulation, increasing tribal revenue and self-determination.
The Department of the Interior must decide on tribal regulations within 180 days (with limited extensions), providing timelier decisions for tribes and project proponents.
When approving tribe-granted rights-of-way, the Secretary is exempted from NEPA, certain National Park Service review, and the Endangered Species Act, reducing federal environmental safeguards for affected lands and communities.
The U.S. is not liable for losses resulting from a tribe-granted right-of-way, potentially leaving private parties without federal remedies for damages.
The Department of the Interior can rescind tribal approvals and reassume permitting after enforcement proceedings, creating regulatory uncertainty and the risk of sudden changes to approvals.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows tribes to grant rights-of-way under an approved tribal regulation and updates tribal leasing language, with a DOI review process and a 180-day approval deadline.
Introduced December 8, 2025 by Brian Emanuel Schatz · Last progress December 8, 2025
Creates a new process that lets Indian tribes grant rights-of-way across tribal lands under tribal regulations that the Department of the Interior (DOI) must review and approve, reducing the need for individual Secretary approvals for each grant. It also updates language in older leasing statutes to modernize tribal leasing and rights-of-way authority. The bill requires tribes to submit a tribal regulation for DOI approval that includes an environmental review process, sets a 180-day deadline (with possible extension) for DOI action, allows use of federal environmental reviews for federally funded projects, preserves tribal sovereign immunity except where waived, and establishes administrative enforcement and petition procedures for interested parties.