MACKENZIE OLIVO/Underscore Native News - Underscore Native News
•8/7/2026
Since March 2025, some Native cultural artifacts and sacred sites have been left vulnerable after Congress rescinded reporting requirements for development proposals on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Developers are no longer required to conduct archaeological surveys for proposed projects along the 3.2 billion acres of marine territory while the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) explores the potential for space launch and recovery infrastructure on the Outer Continental Shelf.
“It feels very sad and violating,” said Katrina Thompson-Upton, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, and co-founder of Northwest American Indian Coalition (NAIC). Thompson-Upton’s traditional lands along the coast of Northern California would be impacted by the development of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
“We did not glacier here, so we were not under ice,” Thompson-Upton said. “There’s a lot of older places in our area, and that extends well out into what is now underwater on the coast on the shelf out there.”
Because of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), federal agencies are required to consider the impacts of any federally funded, permitted, or licensed project affecting underwater cultural artifacts.
Development could happen faster without the requirement for archaeological reporting of cultural artifacts and sacred spaces along the OCS, defined as all submerged lands moving outward toward the sea from the shores to 200 nautical miles from the coast.
On July 17, 2026 the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) provided its members with sweeping revisions to Section 106 that would restructure the tribal consultation process and ultimately reduce the role of Tribal Nations, according to the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.
Some Native nations, like the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, plan to assert treaty rights to protect impacted lands. Other places lack formal tribal representation and rely on local community involvement to uplift Indigenous self-determination.
Thompson-Upton’s organization, NAIC, acts as the tribal representation for Curry County and southern Oregon coast without resources of federally recognized tribes.
“Because of the removal and termination we don’t have a tribal government here to engage in those conversations,” Thompson-Upton said. “We don’t have the protections.”
Many Indigenous peoples whose original lands exist along the coast of the current U.S. territories have artifacts embedded in the shores of the OCS that would be documented by marine archaeological surveys. A documentation that is no longer practiced, unless a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regional director has reason to believe that an archaeological resource may be present in the lease area, according to Congress.
Before the removal of marine archaeology protections, it was required that all proposed exploration or development plans that would result in seabed disturbance must be accompanied by an archaeological report.
Scott Williams, board advisor for the Maritime Archaeology Society, told Underscore Native News, “If I’m the regional director of BOEM, I could just say, ‘well, I don’t know (if) there’s any archeological sites there. You’re fine, go forth and destroy.’”
In adherence with the Trump Administration’s December 2025 Executive Order, Ensuring American Space Superiority, the BOEM opened a 30-day public comment period to gather information and input on the potential development for space launch and recovery that ends this Friday, Aug. 7 at 11:59 p.m. EST — the first step in evaluating the OCS for development.
“The Outer Continental Shelf presents a significant opportunity to support the future of America’s space economy. Offshore launch, re-entry, and recovery infrastructure could expand operational flexibility, increase capacity, reduce constraints on growing launch demand, and strengthen the nation’s commercial and national security space capabilities,” said Acting BOEM Director Matt Giacona in a July announcement about the request for input.
Underscore reached out to the original sponsor of the law change, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, and co-sponsor Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho. Neither responded to emailed requests for comment.
This law impacts cultural resources in a big way, according to Williams who has worked on marine archaeological sites from the shores of the Pacific Northwest all the way to Hawai’i where Kānaka Maoli have underwater shrines dedicated to shark spirits for protection — sacred sites that directly coincide with their oral histories.
“Whether it’s a shipwreck or a buried Native American site, it’s really part of everyone’s history,” Williams said.
An archaeological resource is considered the remains of human life or activities that are at least 50 years of age, according to the federal register.
According to the State of Oregon Guidelines for Reporting Archaeological Investigations, archaeology reports provide information and data needed to protect cultural sites and follow federal laws like the NHPA, the Native American Grave and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The Tillamook, as part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, are a tribe whose original lands are along the coast. Grand Ronde says their 2023 treaty is the supreme law of the land which supersedes any law that conflicts with tribal resources.
According to Grand Ronde Deputy Press Secretary, Sara Thompson, Grand Ronde recognizes resource protection laws as they existed in a 2023 signed treaty. “Any rollback or diminishment of federal protections below that standard will not be recognized by Grand Ronde for purposes of fulfilling Tribal consultation,” Thompson told Underscore News via email.
“It’ll be bad,” Thompson-Upton said when asked about the potential harm from a lack of archaeological protections.
“There’ll be lots of destruction and pollution and no real oversight to call that out.”
This story was originally published by Underscore Native News and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
