Can 400-Year-Old Treaties Block Trump's Energy Plans?

Just 2.5% of America's territory holds 30% of its coal, 50% of its uranium, and 20% of its natural gas. These aren't random statistics—they represent Native American tribal lands, the unexpected key to Trump's energy independence dreams. No matter how loudly the administration champions domestic drilling and mining, it cannot sidestep a fundamental reality: it needs to negotiate with 574 sovereign nations that never fully surrendered their rights.

When Treaties Rank as Supreme Law

The United States has 374 treaties with Native nations, documents negotiated between the late 18th and 19th centuries. These aren't museum pieces gathering dust. Under the Constitution, treaties stand as "supreme Law of the Land" alongside the Constitution itself—a legal status that gives them extraordinary power in modern energy disputes.

Some treaties explicitly permitted "mining settlements" on tribal lands, while others allowed "prospecting" for minerals and metals. But since the 1970s, Native nations have flipped the script, transforming these same documents from instruments of dispossession into tools of protection. Treaties once used to take their land are now being used to control what happens on it.

White Earth Nation learned this lesson when it tried to block the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline expansion in 2021. The pipeline would run beneath a spiritually significant Minnesota lake where the tribe held treaty-protected rights to water, hunting, and fishing dating back to 1837, 1854, and 1855. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the tribe's legal challenge was grounded in a 1999 Supreme Court ruling that recognized these treaty rights.

The New Battlefield: Sacred Sites vs. Critical Minerals

More successful was the Navajo Nation's 2024 move to get the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject a hydropower project on their lands. But just weeks ago, in late January 2026, the same commission approved a similar project on sacred Yakama Nation territory in Washington state, showing how inconsistent federal decision-making remains.

The most significant battle is unfolding at Oak Flat in Arizona, known to the Western Apache as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel. This sacred ceremonial site sits atop what could become the Resolution Copper mine—one of the largest copper deposits in North America, critical for electric grids and renewable energy infrastructure.

In 2014, Congress quietly tucked the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act into a defense spending bill, authorizing the transfer of 2,422 acres of federally protected land to the mining company. The underground mining poses risks of subsidence and potential collapse of the sacred site above.

Apache Stronghold sued in 2021, arguing the land transfer violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the 1852 Treaty of Santa Fe. Courts have consistently sided with the federal government, reasoning that Congress holds ultimate authority over "Indian country." The Supreme Court declined to hear the case twice in 2025, though Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas warned the court was allowing "destruction of a sacred religious site."

But the Apaches haven't given up. They've filed additional claims with the 9th Circuit, which issued temporary restraining orders in late 2025, pausing aspects of the land transfer while litigation continues.

The Sovereignty Paradox

These disputes expose a fundamental tension in American law: the federal government's treaty obligations to protect tribal resources versus its claimed authority over land and development. Native nations exist as sovereign political entities, but that sovereignty operates within—and sometimes conflicts with—congressional authority and state jurisdiction.

The contradiction runs deeper than legal technicalities. For Indigenous nations, managing natural resources isn't just about economic opportunity or environmental sustainability—it's inseparable from sovereignty, sacred land, and treaty enforcement. When Buu Nygren, president of the coal-rich Navajo Nation, called in April 2025 for energy developments that "honor tribal sovereignty," he was articulating this broader principle.

Beyond Extraction: Indigenous Energy Futures

Tribal governments and Indigenous corporations are increasingly active in renewable energy and mineral markets, seeking development on their own terms. This isn't just about blocking projects—it's about controlling them. Some tribes are partnering with companies for solar and wind projects, while others are developing their own mining operations for critical minerals needed in the green energy transition.

The irony is striking: the same lands that hold fossil fuel reserves also contain lithium, rare earth elements, and copper essential for renewable energy. Native nations find themselves at the center of both the old energy economy and the new one.