skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Rolling Back Environmental Review Could Hurt ND Tribes

play audio
Play

Wednesday, January 15, 2020   

BISMARCK, S.D. -- A Trump administration proposal to roll back an environmental-review law for large projects could harm North Dakota tribal communities, according to one Native American activist.

The change to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act would reduce the scope of environmental reviews for projects such as highways, pipelines and oil and gas development.

Lisa DeVille, president of the group Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights, said the law has been key in protecting tribal communities in the path of North Dakota's booming oil industry.

"Any law that provides opportunities for public participation in government decisions that affect the environment shouldn't be rolled back. It should be embraced and strengthened," she said. "So, NEPA is one of Fort Berthold's only protections from projects that may impact our health."

The administration has said critical infrastructure projects have been bogged down under what it sees as the "burdensome federal approval process" of NEPA. The shift would eliminate the need to consider a project's climate-change impact and allow more industry input in reviews. It also completely exempts some projects with limited federal funding from review.

DeVille said NEPA also has been important for protecting Native American cultural and historic sites.

"All we want are laws to protect our land," she said. "We're not saying, 'Do away with the oil.' Just make sure that you abide by the law and not come in and destroy our burial sites."

The public comment period for the proposal closes on March 10. Comments are being accepted at federalregister.gov.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021