© 2026 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Barriers To Tribal Nations’ Involvement In Water Governance Is High

A new study examines the barriers indigenous people's face to being a part of pipeline planning processes that affect them.
A new study examines the barriers indigenous people's face to being a part of pipeline planning processes that affect them.
A new study examines the barriers indigenous people's face to being a part of pipeline planning processes that affect them.
Credit AtlanticCoastPipeline.com
A new study examines the barriers indigenous people's face to being a part of pipeline planning processes that affect them.

North Carolina has the largest state-recognized Native American population east of the Mississippi River. But until recently, state-recognized Native nations have had little input on issues of environmental governance. 

Host Frank Stasio talks to Professor Ryan Emanuel about lack of Tribal nation involvement and consultation in land development projects like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The planning of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline changed that, as state-recognized Tribal nations sought to have input in the planning and permitting of infrastructure that would have been disruptive to land and waters in Tribal territories. A new study, co-authored by Ryan Emanuel, associate professor in the department of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University and enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, outlines the barriers indigenous peoples faced in seeking inclusion in the pipeline planning process. Emanuel joins host Frank Stasio to talk about the study and its results.

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Stacia Brown comes to WUNC from Washington, DC, where she was a producer for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A. She’s the creator and host of two podcasts, The Rise of Charm City and Hope Chest. Her audio projects have been featured on Scene on Radio, a podcast of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University; BBC 4’s Short Cuts; and American Public Radio’s Terrible, Thanks for Asking.