National Tribal Environmental Council

On May 5th, Assistant Administrator Michelle DePass, EPA Office of International and Tribal Affairs, sent tribal leaders the final EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes. This policy is the culmination of outreach and consultation with tribes over the past 16 months, and EPA is now moving into the implementation phase.

• Complies with Executive Order 13175 issued November 9, 2009, directing agencies to develop an accountable process to ensure meaningful and timely input by tribal officials in the development of regulatory policies that have tribal implications
• Reaffirms the 1984 EPA Policy for the Administration of Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations
• Establishes national guidelines and institutional controls for consultation across EPA
• Declares that all program and regional offices have primary responsibility for consulting with tribes
• Defines "Indian tribe" pursuant to the Federally Recognized Tribes List of 1994
• Affirms a guiding principle that recognizes and works directly with federally recognized tribes as sovereign entities with primary authority and responsibility for each tribe's land and membership
• Outlines a four phase consultation process: identification; notification; input; and follow-up
• Requires EPA to provide written communication to tribal officials about consultation and how their input was considered in EPA final actions
• Provides a general framework for identifying matters for consultation, and making determinations of when consultation is appropriate
• Defines roles and responsibilities at EPA headquarters, and program and regional offices
• Directs program and regional offices to prepare semi-annual agendas of consultation matters
• Directs program and regional offices to designate Tribal Consultation Advisors to serve as points-of-contact for EPA staff, tribal governments, and other parties interested in the consultation process
• Authorizes a national consultation meeting

There are two actions that are critical for the agency to take now:

• Designate the Tribal Consultation Advisors (TCAs) for program offices and regions; and
• Publish the semi-annual agenda of matters appropriate for consultation with a brief summary of consultation that has occurred.

The agency should expedite the designation of the TCAs and publish the contact information for regional TCAs on their respective websites; and for program offices, the TCAs could be listed in a similar manner as the EPA National Tribal Contacts listing found at the EPA Tribal Portal. Also, the EPA program and regional offices must publish the respective agendas of tribal consultation matters. EPA will need to establish a specific timeline for publishing the first set of agendas. These are matters for tribal leaders to address with Assistant Administrator DePass.

**The EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes can be found at: www.epa.gov/indian.