A ceremonial signing at the White House in February honored decades of hard work and solidified partnerships to recover salmon while pointing to significant work that lays ahead.

Parties point to key evidence excluded in the MPSC case

A brief submitted by four Tribal Nations asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (MPSC’s) recent approval for Canadian oil giant Enbridge to build the Line 5 tunnel project beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

Jenny Harbine, Managing Attorney, Northern Rockies Office: “In law, you always act in partnership with the clients you’re working with. With William, it was really a question of following his lead. Following the tribe’s lead. He taught us the value of respecting the leadership of people who have been the fiercest advocates and a moral…

Biden administration agrees that Enbridge is trespassing on Bad River Band Reservation

Debbie Chizewer, Managing Attorney, Midwest Office: “The courts passed the mic to the U.S., and the U.S. handed the mic right back to the courts.”

Stefanie Tsosie, Attorney, Tribal Partnerships Program: “The Bad River Band is already at a risk of an oil spill because the pipeline is going directly through their reservation. And the re-route, if you look at the map, it’s basically hugging the reservation boundaries.”

The Line 5 pipeline has leaked over 1 million gallons of oil to date and threatens the Great Lakes.

Stefanie Tsosie, Attorney, Tribal Partnerships Program: “It’s a band-aid for an aging pipeline. The risk of an oil spill will still exist in the Bad River watershed. And instead of moving it out of the watershed, [Enbridge moves] it upstream of the reservation. So now the entire reservation would be subject to an oil spill.”

Enbridge has earned over $1 billion by trespassing on the Bad River Band’s reservation.

A letter from more than 30 Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes region sent to President Joe Biden urging the United States to speak out against the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline’s trespass on the Bad River Band’s land.

Mae Manupipatpong, Attorney, International Program: “Toxic water pollution doesn’t stop at the Canadian border. And human rights obligations don’t either.”

The landmark restoration agreement was announced in December and approved by the court earlier this month

Northern Cheyenne Tribe and conservation groups urge Interior Department to act on coal

Debbie Chizewer, Managing Attorney, Midwest Office: “It would really limit the ability of state governments and tribal nations and others to protect the interests that have been widely accepted for many years. If you can’t protect your land from a trespass because of the oil pipelines, what’s the point of having your own land?”

SEITC briefs the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights on Canada’s violations

A group of Alaska Tribes with roots along Canada’s transboundary rivers, the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), submitted a brief to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights requesting a hearing on the looming threats of several risky and under-regulated gold mines in British Columbia.

Ruling will mean a free-flowing Puyallup River for fish for the first time in more than 100 years