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- By Native News Online Staff
WASHINGTON — In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other news released from Washington, D.C. that impacts Indian Country recently.
Training Announcement: Accessing BJA Discretionary Grants for Tribes, January 22-24, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Indian Country Training Initiative, together with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is pleased to announce the Accessing BJA Discretionary Grants for Tribes Workshop.
The Department of Justice will cover travel related costs for those selected to attend the training. Please apply only if you are fully committed to attending the training.
Tribes are eligible to apply for many funding opportunities that are not tribal specific and not included in the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS). The Accessing BJA Discretionary Grants for Tribes Workshop is designed to provide applicants from tribal communities with tools and guidance that may assist the tribe’s efforts to access BJA’s non-CTAS grant funding and other resources to improve their justice systems.
Course: Accessing BJA Discretionary Grants for Tribes
When: January 22-24, 2025
Where: Columbia, SC
Click Here to Register: https://app.smartsheetgov.com/
Biden Administration Releases Final Supplemental Environmental Statement for Arctic Refuge
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The FSEIS was needed in order to re-assess the environmental impacts of the Arctic Refuge oil and gas leasing program because the first analysis by the Trump administration was fundamentally flawed and violated the law.
With the announcement of the FSEIS, the Biden administration has tried to strengthen measures to try to prevent impacts on subsistence for local communities, harm to the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, and the adverse effects on threatened polar bears from oil and gas activities. But the FSEIS also makes clear that the Arctic Refuge is still unnecessarily under threat from oil and gas drilling. There is overwhelming evidence that any oil and gas program will have destructive and harmful impacts on the coastal plain.
Despite the fact that the first lease sale, held by the Trump administration in 2021, was an absolute failure and generated a mere $12 million – less than 1% of the revenue promised with the Tax Act – the 2017 Tax Act still legally requires the Department of the Interior to hold a second lease sale in the Arctic Refuge by the end of 2024.
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The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.
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