At the first in-person White House Tribal Nations Summit since 2016, President Biden and his administration’s leaders announced new steps for federal agency consultation with Tribes.

These are steps in the right direction, but consulting with Tribes is not enough when it comes to harmful development and extraction projects like mines, dams, and oil pipelines.

Native communities have the inherent and legal right to give or to withhold consent to these projects. The failure of federal agencies to gain the free, prior, and informed consent of Tribes is a violation of treaty rights and a flawed process that leads to the desecration of our sacred places.

Please sign if you agree: In order to fulfill the promise of respecting Native sovereignty, the Biden administration and Congress must move towards free, prior, and informed consent.