"Thomas Brings wasn't surprised to learn that Sand Creek, a 156-well oil and gas project, had been approved in Wyoming without tribal consultation.

But he was frustrated.

As the one-man Tribal Historic Preservation Office for the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., he was already facing a backlog of energy projects to review and, in some cases, protest, when an environmental group told him that Sand Creek had slipped by him.

Federal law — Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act — allows tribes the right to consult on federal projects that might affect Native historical sites, even if those sites are hidden far from public view, on private property in the rural West.

But tribes say that doesn't always happen."

Heather Richards reports for EnergyWire July 16, 2019. [2]