A/HRC/36/46/Add.1 impact. The core objective of tribal consultation is to provide federal decision makers with context, information and perspective to support informed decisions that protect tribal interests. Prior to rendering federal decisions that have the potential to impact tribes, federal agencies must consider treaty rights, federal trust responsibility to tribes and environmental justice, along with all relevant and applicable federal statutes, regulations and policies. Meaningful consultation has the potential to provide a solid foundation for such decisions, but federal agencies and tribes must be willing to recognize those principles and to work actively and cooperatively. In some cases — such as in the context of the Dakota Access Pipeline — meaningful consultation does not occur (see paras. 63-74 below). 27. There are few examples of meaningful consultation in the context of energy development projects in the United States. One example was the section 106 review led by the Bureau of Land Management of Nine Mile Canyon, Utah, with an estimated 10,000 prehistoric rock panes etched along the 45-mile-long canyon. During the review, the Advisory Council recommended expanding the consultation with Indian tribes and other parties. As a result, a blueprint for safeguarding historic properties while allowing energy development to proceed was created in 2010. B. Self-determination in energy development projects 28. The previous Special Rapporteur noted that “indigenous peoples in some cases are establishing and implementing their own enterprises to extract and develop natural resources which … is more conducive to the exercise of indigenous peoples’ rights to selfdetermination, lands and resources, culturally appropriate development and related rights”.18 The Special Rapporteur notes that, in addition to the government-to-government relationship that is the basis of consultation, the United States has a trust relationship with Indian tribes and individual Indians for the resources and rights that the United States holds in trust, as defined by Congress. She recommends that this relationship remain the legal framework within which to build the capacity of Indian tribes to develop their own initiatives with respect to natural resources and energy. Any framework that dispenses with the trust responsibility would be detrimental to indigenous peoples given their unique status as sovereign entities and members thereof. 29. The Special Rapporteur was very impressed by the remarkable and unshakeable resolve that tribes demonstrate in finding creative ways to self-determine their energy development. In addition to rich oil and gas deposits across Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Colorado, Alaska and New Mexico, indigenous lands have great wind and solar potential, as well as hydroelectric and geothermal resources. A number of tribes have made entrepreneurial efforts to create tribal utilities for the benefit of their own and neighbouring communities, and are involved in a wide array of energy generation and transmission as large parts of tribal lands serve as throughways for the national electrical grid system. Indian tribes are owners and operators of new and emerging technologies, breaking the mould of reliance on outside entities. These examples demonstrate that, by exercising political sovereignty, indigenous peoples can approach energy resource development in diverse ways to support economic sovereignty. 30. With a budget of $22 million for 2017, the Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy will provide $12 million in grants for the deployment of innovative energy systems and technologies, and $6 million in direct technical assistance; the amount has doubled since 2013 to meet increasing demand. Between 2002 and 2016, the Department of Energy invested $66.5 million in 217 tribal clean-energy projects valued at more than $126 million, with an investment of $59.7 million in tribal cost shares. One example was the grant to the Picuris Pueblo for a solar energy project in 2016 (see para. 77 below). 31. Indian tribes continue to face significant challenges in their efforts to harness the possibility of self-determined development. In particular, tribes universally reported that the legal, regulatory and tax structures currently in place created additional hurdles while 18 A/HRC/24/41. 7