House Natural Resources committee debates tribal rights, protest fees and western water funding; amendments fail

Representatives debated amendments addressing tribal rights, protest fees tied to mineral leasing, drought and western water projects and protections for culturally significant lands during a long markup of a reconciliation bill by the House Natural Resources Committee.

The measures—offered chiefly by Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico and Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico—sought to (1) preserve tribal access to judicial review for large federal projects, (2) strike new protest‑filing fees under the Mineral Leasing Act, and (3) add discretionary funding for Bureau of Reclamation water delivery and drought resiliency. Committee members also argued about drilling language affecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Gwich'in subsistence lands, and about restricting foreign‑adversary‑linked miners from operating on public lands.

The debate was pitched as both legal and moral: supporters said the amendments protected treaty and trust responsibilities and preserved the ability of tribes and citizens to seek review in court; opponents said the changes were not germane to a reconciliation bill and, in committee…