Native member of Congress helps lead first committee hearing on climate change

Monday, February 4, 2019  

By Acee Agoyo

This post has been updated with the full slate of witnesses for the February 6, 2018, hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources, as well as the topic for the upcoming Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States hearing on February 12, 2018.

The House Committee on Natural Resources hasn't addressed the adverse effects of climate change in nearly a decade but that's changing now that Democrats are in control of the chamber.

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico), one of the first two Native women in Congress, will help lead a hearing on climate change this Wednesday. The lawmaker, who is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, is the first Native person to serve as vice chair of the committee and she's vowed to use her leadership role to push for action on the issue.

"Everyone has a stake in climate change," Haaland wrote in post on Twitter as she welcomed "Clean Air Moms" and their children to her office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday.

Addressing climate change and helping tribal nations respond to it were a priority of the Obama administration. But Republican lawmakers, who controlled the House for most of the past decade, often used their oversight authority to focus on the prior president's policies and how they affect industry and energy interests.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Deb Haaland (@deb4congressnm) on Oct 18, 2017 at 12:11pm PDT

The arrival of President Donald Trump, who had called climate change a "hoax" during his campaign, also brought about a major shift. Top officials within his administration have questioned the science that confirms climate change and have even tried to reduce or outright eliminate funds for tribal resiliency and natural resources management programs at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Haaland and other Democrats, most of them new members, hope to renew the federal government's commitment to climate change. They are pushing for a "Green New Deal" to address what they are calling an environmental and economic crisis that disproportionately affects Native Americans and other minority populations.

"Two years ago, I stood with water protectors and hundreds of Native Nations from across the world in Standing Rock to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline," Haaland said after she secured positions on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Now, I am bringing that fight for Indigenous rights here to Congress with the Green New Deal.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), another newcomer to the House, has been the leading voice for the Green New Deal since running for Congress. She too has invoked the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, describing the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline as one of the driving forces for change.

It’s happening 🤗 https://t.co/AL9q6yuBuH

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2019

"My journey here started at Standing Rock, and it started with everyday people doing what you all are doing, standing with the Lakota Sioux, standing with allies, standing with Indigenous tribes," said Ocasio-Cortez, who has often stressed the importance of acknowleding and including Native voices, during a November 13 climate change protest outside the office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), who returned to the Speaker of the House position in the 116th Congress.

There aren't any Indian Country witnesses appearing at Wednesday's hearing, which is the committee's first of the 116th Congress, but the promise of a New Green Deal has prominent activists welcoming the change in tone in Washington. Winona LaDuke, a citizen of the White Earth Nation who serves as executive director of the advocacy organization Honor the Earth, said Native people must be at the table.

"You know, we have to make the next economy, and that next economy is going to be green," LaDuke said on Democracy Now! in December. "That next economy is going to have people like me making decisions."

The hearing takes place at 10am on Wednesday in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building. The witness list follows:

Panel 1
The Honorable Roy Cooper
Governor of North Carolina

The Honorable Charlie Baker
Governor of Massachusetts

Panel 2 Dr. Kim Cobb
Professor, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology

Ms. Nadia Nazar
Co-Founder, Associate Director, and Art Director, Zero Hour Movement
Co-organizer of the Youth Climate March

Ms. Elizabeth Yeampierre
Executive Director, UPROSE
Steering Committee Co-Chair of the Climate Justice Alliance

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr.
President, Hip Hop Caucus
Member of the Advisory Board of The Climate Mobilization

Ms. Paula DiPerna
Special Advisor, CDP North America

Derrick Hollie
President, Reaching America

Dr. Judith A. Curry President, Climate Forecast Applications Network

In related news, the very first hearing of the new Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States will take place Tuesday, February 12, and it too will focus on climate change. A witness list haven't been publicly announced by the panel, which was created when Democrats gained control of the larger House Committee on Natural Resources.

The subcommittee will focus on American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. That's a major change from the days of Republican rule, when Indian issues were grouped with those of U.S. territories that don't enjoy the same government-to-government relationship and trust and treaty obligations.

The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona). Haaland is also a member of the panel.

Here are the Democratic members of the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States:

* Ruben Gallego, Arizona, Chair @RepRubenGallego
* Darren Soto, Florida @RepDarrenSoto
* Michael San Nicolas, Guam
* Deb Haaland, New Mexico @RepDebHaaland

— indianz.com (@indianz) January 31, 2019

Here are the Republican members of the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States:

* Paul Cook, California, Republican Leader @RepPaulCook
* Don Young, Alaska @repdonyoung
* Rob Wittman, Virginia @RobWittman

— indianz.com (@indianz) January 31, 2019

Full Committee Hearing: Climate Change: Impacts and the Need to Act (February 6, 2019)

Native lawmaker secures leadership positions on key Congressional committee (January 30, 2019)