Our Land, Our Decision: BAAJA Permitting Reform and Tribal Energy

Tribal nations should decide how their own land is used, and Washington’s permitting maze keeps standing in the way.

BAAJA Permitting Reform Gives Tribes More Power to Build on Their Own Land

In plain English, BAAJA (S. 5653) is a big permitting reform package that would speed federal approvals for power lines, pipelines, mines, and energy projects. The Senate is moving it as a full substitute for H.R. 2347, a small House-passed tax bill, so BAAJA rides inside that bill, the Congressional Record shows. After a final Senate vote expected next week, the House must pass the same text before it reaches the President. NASP supports BAAJA permitting reform.

Tribes could approve rights-of-way across their own lands without separate Interior approval, according to City Journal. The National Tribal Energy Association said the bill “takes meaningful steps to honor our Tribal sovereignty and self-determination,” and the Crow Tribe urged Congress to advance it. The Coalition of Large Tribes accepts its expedited framework while seeking targeted revisions.

Sacred Sites Deserve Targeted Protection Without Killing the Bill

Many tribes see this bill differently, and their concerns deserve respect. The National Congress of American Indians and 10 other groups have urged Congress to halt it, and Northern Arapaho preservation director Crystal C’Bearing worries Title III, the bill’s historic preservation section, could weaken tribal consultation, Boise State Public Radio reported. Still, a review by the Institute for Progress found the amended bill writes tribal participation into the Section 106 process for the first time. It also authorizes $200 million a year for the Historic Preservation Fund and new grants for tribal site databases.

The better path is a targeted fix. One proposed amendment would exempt tribal claims for harm to cultural and religious properties from the bill’s limits on court remedies, Punchbowl News reported. Protect the sacred places, then pass the bill.

Rural Native Villages Need Affordable Power, Not Grant-Dependent Pilot Projects

Meanwhile, a new Grist story in the Anchorage Daily News shows what is at stake. Kotzebue, above the Arctic Circle, gets 75% of its power from diesel, and residents spend about 20% of their income on it. A $20 million EPA wind grant for the village was canceled in May 2025, and the project is still paused. Brookings researchers found DOGE cuts eliminated another $468 million meant for Indian Country. To be fair, the EPA told Grist it has awarded more than $351 million in tribal grants since the start of the second Trump administration. The lesson is plain.

When a village’s lights depend on a grant that can be canceled, that village is not in control. Grant money comes and goes. Families in rural Alaska need affordable, reliable power every single winter.

We Want to Build, and Sovereignty Means the Freedom to Say Yes

So here is where NASP stands. We need direct energy. We want to be connected, or to build our own energy grids. The blocks only block, and will continue to block. We want to build! On Nov. 10, I represented NASP at the Daily Caller’s Permission to Build event, where Interior Secretary Doug Burgum urged Congress to pass the permitting bill and said “the certainty moves capital,” the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. He is right. When permits are approved on time, power lines, solar fields, and small grids can be built on tribal land by tribal decision.

That means jobs that let a father support his family on one income, and young people can stay home. We urge the Senate to pass BAAJA permitting reform with targeted protection for sacred sites. Our land, our decision.