U.S. EPA Indian Environmental Office

Long before the first Europeans set foot in North America, the continent's indigenous nations were responsible for the health and welfare of their own people. In spite of the eventual expansion of the United States across millions of acres of formerly native-held lands, American Indian governments continue to possess self-governing powers. In fact, several U.S. environmental statutes contain provisions that allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to authorize tribal regulatory programs or that call for a substantial role for tribes.

Still, a "trust" relationship exists between the U.S. government and some 2 million Indians that is the basis for U.S. control over tribal self-governance and for a corollary duty on the part of the U.S. government to act in the best interests of indigenous peoples. Assisting some 550 American Indian governments in exercising their environmental protection powers and upholding the federal government's trust responsibility to native people is the task of the EPA's American Indian Environmental Office (AIEO), which is located online at http://www.epa.gov/indian/. The office is responsible for providing grants to tribal governments, offering training to tribal environmental managers, negotiating agency/tribal agreements for building tribal environmental programs, and improving communication between the agency and tribes.

Under the Programs link on the AIEO home page is information about tribal programs within the EPA's various offices--such as the Office of Air and Radiation, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, and the Office of Water--and information pertinent to those offices. Under the Office of Air and Radiation heading, for example, visitors can obtain a final rule on tribal authority to operate air quality programs under the Clean Air Act. Under the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance heading is a link to the American Indian Lands Environmental Support Project, which tracks sources and impacts of pollutants on or near tribal lands. Similarly, under the Office of Water heading visitors can find access to tribal program information on drinking water and groundwater, including a report on Safe Drinking Water Act violations by water systems on Indian reservations.

The Policies & Initiatives link on the home page takes visitors to executive orders that mandate government-to-government relations between federal agencies and Indian tribes and that require federal agencies to accommodate Indian use of sacred sites located on public lands. This link also provides information about the tribal government policies of four recent U.S. presidents.

The Laws, Regs & Guidance link offers information about the EPA's grant programs for tribal governments. This link also gives access to final and interim rules on the eligibility of tribes for financial assistance and a final rule outlining the conditions under which tribal governments will be authorized to operate programs under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act.

The AIEO home page also links to publications such as a tribal environmental and natural resource assistance handbook designed for tribal officials, who, unlike state officials, do not receive multiyear funding and must apply annually for EPA assistance. The Publications link leads, via Working Effectively with Tribal Governments, to an EPA training program that includes a downloadable resource guide with demographic, cultural, and historical information about American Indians and a summary of federal Indian law and the EPA Indian Program, The demographic chapter, for example, notes that as of the 1990 census, 37% of American Indians lived in tribal areas and another 23% in surrounding communities. According to the resource guide, unemployment is considerably higher for Indians than for non-Indians, and Indians are twice as likely to live in poverty than non-Indians, based on 1989 data.

At the bottom of the AIEO home page, visitors can choose Related Links to go to external sites such as those for the Tribal Association on Solid Waste & Emergency Response and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University.

COPYRIGHT 2001 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
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