Kevin Allis, former chief executive of the National Congress of American Indians, the largest lobbying group for tribes in the country, said lawmakers, federal agency officials and private businesses often overlook that tribes are land-based people and that where they’re from has a “spiritual significance” that is “not transferrable.”

“Our ancestral traditions and customs are tied to special places that are unique to that community,” said Allis, who is also a tribal member of the Forest County Potawatomi Community in Wisconsin and now runs Thunderbird Strategic, a consulting firm for tribes. “You can’t move that somewhere else. You can’t say move Oak Flat to Utah, Chicago or Kansas and it have the same significance.”

“When you want to mine for copper or uranium or poke holes for gas, you’re going to destroy that community,” Allis said. “Any alteration is a permanent scar on that spot that is so sensitive and sacred to that tribal community.

“You destroy it, and it’s forever gone.”

[Emphasis added]