Overview:
An Oklahoma Tribe lost a challenge to a Trump-era decision about environmental management.
A federal court last week ruled against the Pawnee Nation, upholding a Trump administration decision that gives the Environmental Protection Agency unconditional authority over tribal lands in Oklahoma.
In a 2-1 decision, the court ruled that the agency acted under a 2005 law — dubbed the “Midnight Rider” for its last-second addition to a federal transportation funding bill — that allows the state to take over EPA programs in Indian Country.
In 2020, after the landmark McGirt ruling, the state invoked the law when it sought to assume authority over 26 environmental programs, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act. The Trump administration approved the state’s request, but President Biden withdrew it the following year. In January 2025, the EPA approved Oklahoma’s request on the condition that the state consult with tribes. Just months later in May 2025, the EPA threw out the tribal consultation requirement.
The Pawnee Tribe filed suit that same year, alleging the Midright Rider expired in 2009 and challenging the withdrawal of tribal consultation requirements.
Last week’s ruling means Oklahoma keeps environmental regulatory authority over Indian Country and is not required to consult with tribes.
Dissenting Judge Richard Federico wrote that the ruling fails to protect tribal sovereignty and fundamentally misinterprets Federal Indian Law.
“The Indian canons rest upon a foundation of respect for tribal sovereignty and the federal government’s general trust responsibility to the tribes. Here, however, EPA relies on the rider – an uncodified, last-minute addition to a 2005 transportation funding bill – to lay down a vast upheaval of
environmental and Indian policy in Oklahoma … This court should not so readily acquiesce to the total displacement of the tribes as the first sovereigns of their land absent a clear statement from Congress to the contrary.”
