National Tribal Environmental Council

In the past year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted an assessment of the National Tribal Operations Committee (NTOC), its partnership with tribes, and the Agency's ability to protect human health and the environment in Indian country. This assessment was geared to "reinvigorate" the NTOC and to determine what was working, and what needed to be improved to enhance the partnership. The NTOC was established over fifteen years ago, and there have been many changes within EPA and advances made by tribal environmental programs. A re-examination of the partnership was appropriate and much needed.

NTEC had discussions with the contractor retained by EPA during that assessment, and reviewed the draft documents related to the reinvigoration process. Based on that interaction and available information, and also through conversations with tribal representatives that will continue as the reinvigoration unfolds, we have some initial interpretations and recommendations for the NTOC reinvigoration.

There appears to be much that is laudable with the proposed NTOC reinvigoration, such as the increased accountability of the EPA and National Tribal Caucus (NTC) members, a clear calendar of meetings, staff and analytical support for the NTOC, and movement towards a well-defined process for defining goals and tracking progress. The path forward has clearly declared that interactions with the NTOC "do not substitute for the government-to-government relationship between EPA and tribal governments." We support this declaration; and it makes sense that the corresponding membership criteria for the NTC specifically identifies senior tribal staff from environmental, natural resource, or planning offices as desired NTC members.

The Agency proposes to engage senior tribal staff at the NTC level, but acknowledges that tribal leaders may become members. Furthermore, it seems the Agency intends to invite tribal leaders, as an option, to share their unique perspectives with the NTOC at the annual NTOC meeting, or to engage tribal leaders at summits associated with regional EPA tribal meetings, or conduct outreach at meetings that tribal leaders and their organizations convene. Ultimately, tribal leaders who have issues to raise with the EPA should initiate consultation by using the recently finalized EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes (May 4, 2011).

The reinvigoration path forward proposes a strategic regular engagement process between EPA tribal partnership groups and the National Tribal Caucus. This proposed engagement is in recognition of the expertise and active involvement of the media-specific tribal partnership groups with the EPA program offices. It is also an expression of the Agency's desire to hear those new perspectives, and to establish a formal process to incorporate them into a national set of priorities.

Clearly, the Agency would like for the NTC to be a focal point for the interaction of the network of media partnership groups. To achieve that goal, the strategic regular engagement "straw proposal" details a very elaborate mechanism for collaboration and coordination among the groups. However, the process seems very cumbersome and may not achieve the goals to promote a consistent voice from Indian country, and to make efficient use of Agency resources by avoiding duplication of effort across groups.

Our recommendation is that the chairperson of each tribal partnership group be fully integrated into the NTC, at least as media specific members. Having the chairperson of each group as a NTC member would ensure that EPA leadership receives a consistent message, and would avoid redundancy. This revision would make the NTC the focal point; and this change would reduce, if not eliminate, communication issues between the NTC and tribal partnership groups. Each of these groups would then know when the NTC meetings are held, and their roles in those meetings would be clearly defined. Their work plans and budgets could accommodate their participation, and resources would be focused on providing effective and informed guidance to the highest levels of the EPA. The tribal partnership groups have staff and analytical support in their field of expertise, and integrating their work would ensure the most effective leverage of Agency resources. If restructured in this way, the NTC would serve as a forum in which each tribal partnership group could share information and knowledge with each other, allowing each group to learn from others, and providing a means to collaborate consistent with EPA's "cross-cutting" strategy for tribal participation.

It has been many years since the creation of the National Tribal Operation Committee, and it is most appropriate to assess its mission, operations, and role in protection of human health and safeguards for the natural environment in Indian country. We applaud the EPA for this reinvigoration path forward. We will offer recommendations as this plan evolves. And, we will continue to discuss our interpretations and recommendations with tribal representatives. We hope that tribal leaders and their representatives will be actively involved with EPA to strengthen the tribal partnership created by the National Tribal Operations Committee.