EPA proposes limiting power of states & tribes to block major projects impacting environment

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed limiting states’ and Native American tribes’ power to wield the Clean Water Act to block major projects like natural gas pipelines, advancing the Trump administration's goal of accelerating the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure and data centers.

The agency said new constraints on local water quality reviews for federally regulated projects will still allow states to protect their environment while preventing unnecessary delays. Successive administrations have seesawed on the scope of states' power. President Donald Trump's first administration reduced it, the Biden administration restored itand now the Trump administration is once again adding constraints to what's called Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

“When finalized, the proposed rule will increase transparency, efficiency and predictability for certifying authorities and the regulated community," said Jess Kramer, EPA's assistant administrator for water. “It will also ensure states and authorized tribes adhere to their Section 401 role.”

The Clean Water Act allows states and some authorized tribes to review what effect pipelines, dams and other federally regulated projects have on water quality within their borders. Pipelines, for example, might cross rivers, streams and wetlands — disruptions that states can scrutinize and that have caused holdups before. In 2017, for example, New York regulators rejected a permit for a pipeline, saying there weren't sufficient protections for hundreds of streams and wetlands.

The proposed change is similar to EPA’s rule in Trump's first term. They proposed a clear description of what applicants need to submit to states, strict deadlines for reviews and a requirement that states fully explain why any conditions were placed on a developer or why their permit was rejected.

In 2023, the Biden administration strengthened states’ and tribes' authority to conduct water quality reviews. Activists at the time praised the change, saying it would help protect the local environment. The agency said then that states should be able to look beyond pollution that’s released directly into waters and instead “holistically evaluate" the impact of a project on local water quality.

The Trump administration wants to do away with that broader authority to focus reviews on direct releases to federally regulated waters. They are doing so at a time when fewer waters are federally regulated by the Clean Water Act. In 2023, the Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA limited the federal government's power to regulate millions of acres of wetlands.

Congress has said that when federally backed projects like oil pipelines or nickel mines affect water quality, fishing and drinking water, states and tribes get to review them and reject proposals that will do too much damage, according to Moneen Nasmith, director of national climate, fossil fuel infrastructure at the nonprofit Earthjustice.

“EPA’s claims that states and tribes are overreaching are baseless," she said. “This proposed rule is trying to solve for a problem that does not exist.”

Under Administrator Lee Zeldin, the EPA expanded its traditional focus on the environment and public health to include several economic “pillars" like restoring America's energy dominance — Trump's shorthand for fossil fuels — and making the U.S. “the artificial intelligence capital of the world.” As demand for new data centers increases, some of these projects will need state water quality permits. Kramer said the update will make the rules for these reviews clear.

“This makes what we are doing in the 401 space crucial, right? Those projects, they need to be able to move forward with certainty,” said Kramer.

A final rule is expected in the spring after a public comment period.

Man who posed as Native American activist sentenced to 46 years for serial rapes

SEATTLE (AP) — A man who held himself out as a Native American activist was sentenced Wednesday to 46 years in prison for drugging and raping women in a case that inspired calls for changes in Washington state law to prohibit defendants who represent themselves from directly questioning their accusers.

Redwolf Pope, who had apartments in Seattle and Santa Fe, New Mexico, was arrested in 2018 after guests at his Seattle apartment gave police videos from his iPad that showed him raping several women who appeared to be unconscious, court documents said. Police also found a secret camera in Pope's bathroom that was used to capture video of women in the shower.

“I’ve had the horror of witnessing the scale of violence Pope inflicted on multiple women over many years. It will never leave me,” Erica Elan, a survivor who discovered the hidden cameras and video evidence of the crimes, said in a news release.

The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse except in cases where they publicly identify themselves or share their stories openly.

Pope, 49, was found guilty of rape and voyeurism by a Santa Fe jury in 2020. He was sentenced to four years in prison, with credit for over two years already served. Pope claimed that encounter was consensual.

After his release from prison, he was extradited to Washington state to face charges from incidents that occurred in 2016 and 2017. He pleaded not guilty and represented himself during his September trial, cross-examining one of his victims for multiple days.

The jury found him guilty on Sept. 3, 2025.

Survivors have called on the Washington State Legislature to change laws that allow defendants who represent themselves to directly cross-examine their victims. They want lawmakers to update the Crime Victim Bill of Rights to provide an alternative to cross-examination of victims by perpetrators serving as their own lawyer.

They want judges to have the ability to allow an accuser to be cross-examined by a court-appointed designee rather than by a self-represented defendant.

"We must refine the outdated systems that cause further harm to survivors in their pursuit of justice,” Elan said.

Pope, who has claimed Western Shoshone and Tlingit heritage, is an activist who has appeared as a spokesperson for the Seattle-based United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. His LinkedIn page lists him as an attorney who has worked for the Tulalip Tribal Court for over a decade.

But his heritage and resume came under scrutiny after his arrest. While he received a law degree from Seattle University, the Washington State Bar Association previously confirmed he was not a licensed lawyer, and the Tulalip Tribes said he never worked as an attorney there.

Several tribes with Tlingit and Shoshone members also have said they’ve found no record of Pope’s enrollment, though it’s unclear whether he has claimed membership to any particular tribe.

Abigail Echo-Hawk, the executive vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board and an advocate for Native women’s rights, has said Pope created a “false identity and posed as a Native man to infiltrate Native communities and prey upon our Indigenous women.”

Echo-Hawk, who is a national leader in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls crisis and advocate for victims of sexual violence, said Pope not only inflicted harm until he was caught, but "was allowed to take advantage of our legal system and continue to traumatize his victims for years after.”