© Reuters. A woman from Dancing Eagles dance troupe from the Osage and Creek tribes performs a dance at an Indian relay race over Memorial Day weekend in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, U.S., May 29, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Wednesday it plans to withdraw and reconsider a Trump administration decision to grant Oklahoma authority over environmental issues on tribal land after consulting with the state’s 38 tribal nations.

The agency would reverse a decision made in October 2020 by then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who approved a request from Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to allow the state rather than tribal nations to regulate environmental issues on land inside historical tribal reservation boundaries.

Stitt’s had requested the authority in July 2020 after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma case that a large part of eastern part of the state would be considered Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation land. The McGirt v. Oklahoma case focused on a question of criminal jurisdiction.

“Our sovereign Tribal partners continue to have significant concerns with EPA’s previous decision and the consultation process used in reaching that decision,” said Assistant Administrator for International and Tribal Affairs Jane Nishida. “Today’s action reflects careful consideration of their concerns and our commitment to ensuring robust consultation on all policy deliberations affecting Tribal nations.”

The Biden administration began informal talks with Oklahoma tribes over whether they should have a bigger say over a range of environmental regulations in the eastern half of the oil-rich state in April. It began formal government-to-government tribal consultations in June.

Tribes had complained that they had not been consulted with before the Trump administration made its decision.

Oklahoma Republican government sources told Reuters in April that it was concerned the state risks losing control of a big tax base and about regulation of natural resource extraction and industry if jurisdiction remains with tribes.

Most of Oklahoma’s oil and gas production is in the western part of the state, but some fields are in the eastern part of the state.

The EPA will take comment on its withdrawal proposal until Jan. 31, 2022.

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song

BEIJING (Reuters) -China has barred entry to four people from a U.S. commission on religious freedom, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, following U.S. sanctions this month against Chinese people and entities over accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

The four people, from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), would be banned from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

Their assets in China would also be frozen and Chinese institutions and citizens would be forbidden from dealing with them, Zhao said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

“We are not surprised to see the Chinese government impose additional baseless sanctions in response to growing concern over its egregious human rights and religious freedom violations,” said USCIRF chair Nadine Maenza, one of the people China barred entry to, according to an online statement.

The United States had said that its Dec. 10 sanctions were in response to human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, where Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are alleged to have been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work. China denies abuses in Xinjiang and says its policies there help combat extremism.

The USCIRF is a federal government entity which evaluates and suggests policies for countries where religious freedom is deemed to be endangered.

Apart from USCIRF’s chair, the sanctions would also affect the vice chair and two commissioners at USCIRF, Zhao said.

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© Reuters. Press Secretary Jen Psaki holds a media briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin remain on friendly terms despite Manchin’s decision to oppose Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday.

Psaki said action on Biden’s legislative agenda is urgently needed. She said she would not “relitigate” Manchin’s announcement of opposition on Sunday and her subsequent statement that was sharply critical of him.

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