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GAO-23-106542 1 (2023-09-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaoper0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways Through treaties, statutes, and historical relations, the U.S. has undertaken a unique trust responsibility to protect and support federally recognized Tribes.' Congress has enacted several laws to maintain, strengthen, and protect the Navajo Nation's leasing power over its tribal lands.2 In 2000, Congress passed the Navajo Nation Trust Land Leasing Act of 2000 (Trust Leasing Act). This act authorizes the Navajo Nation to lease its tribal lands for certain terms and purposes-such as agricultural and business-without obtaining approval from the Department of the Interior, if the leases are issued under tribal regulations approved by Interior.3 However, the Trust Leasing Act excluded, from the authority granted to the Navajo Nation, leases for the exploration, development, or extraction of mineral resources. To address concerns that this and other restrictions limited Tribes' ability to tap into the economic potential of resources on their lands, Congress enacted the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act Amendments of 2017 (Tribal Energy Act).4 The Tribal Energy Act authorizes the Navajo Nation to lease its tribal lands for mineral resource purposes and issue agricultural and business leases for longer terms without obtaining Interior's approval, provided the leases are issued under Interior-approved tribal regulations.5 The Tribal Energy Act also includes a provision for us to review progress made in carrying out the Navajo Nation's expanded leasing authority provided for in the act. This report describes the progress. * The Trust Leasing Act and the Tribal Energy Act do not require the Navajo Nation to assume the expanded leasing authority, and the laws do not specify a deadline by which the Nation must act to take on the authority. Interior's role is to review any tribal leasing regulations it receives from the Navajo Nation and approve those regulations if they meet the statutory requirements. At the Navajo Nation's request, Interior can provide technical assistance to the Nation during this process, according to Interior officials. To assume the expanded leasing authority provided for in the Tribal Energy Act, the Navajo Nation must first develop tribal regulations governing mineral leasing and providing for longer-term business and agricultural leases and then submit those regulations to Interior for approval, according to Interior officials. As of September 2023, the Navajo Nation had not developed regulations for Interior's review or approval or taken other steps to assume the expanded leasing authority, according to the Navajo Nation officials. These officials told us this was in part, because of limited tribal capacity-such as limited funding and staffing-and concerns regarding access to Interior's databases, which contains data the Nation believes it would need to manage mineral leases. Page 1 GAO-23-106542 Tribal Lands

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