N
W
EPA RIO Tribal Website
http://vosemite.epa.
LETTER
Region 10 Tribal
Newsletter
Vol. XV No. II
February 1, 2006
Work Shops and Conferences
February 13-16, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) Winter Conference, Portland, OR.
Airport Embassy Suites.
February 27-28, 6th Annual Harvesting Clean Energy Conference, Spokane, WA., Northwest event to
advance opportunities for producers and rural communities to profitably diversify into clean energy production.
www. harvestcleanenersv. ors
March 10-12, American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) Region 1 Conference, PSU,
Portland, OR, aises(a)pdx.edu or Beth Dillon beth.a. dillon(a),smail. com
March 13-17, Emergency Management Framework for Tribal Governments, Washington, D.C. See
below*
March 29-31, 22nd Annual Washington State Indian Education Association, WSU, Pullman, WA.
For info: Denise Bill dbitt(a)auburn.w ednet.edu 253/931-4999
April 2-5, 31st Annual Northwest Indian Youth Conference, Seattle Center, WA. www.iwasil. ors
April 10-13, Mitigation for Tribal Officials, Emmitsburg, MD. See below**
September, 24-29, Tribal Science Conference, Ocean Shores, WA. http://www. auinaultbeachresort. com
August 21-25, Tribal Leaders Summit, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indians Reservation.
Pendleton, OR. For more information: http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/2006EPAsummit.html
November 2-5, 28th Annual AISES Conference, Detroit, MI. www.aises.ors
Region 10 Tribal
Newsletter is published
Mothly at no charge
To receive a copy call:
AK..Rob 907/271-6323
ID.. Arlene 208/378-5749
OR. .Don 503/326-5015
WA.. Alison....360/753-8185
Tribal Governments*
Emergency Management
Framework for Tribal
governments. This course
provides tribal leaders and
representatives with a basic
understanding of emergency
management principles and
their roles in leading and
directing their tribes in
developing and implementing
comprehensive emergency
management systems. This
course is free and Iodg9ing will
be provided. A roundtrip flight
from home to
Baltimore/Washington, Dulles,
or Washington National is
reimbursable and transportation
between airports and the
campus will be provided. Your
only expense would be a one-
week meal ticket, which is $90.
If you are interested, contact
Linda Straka at 301/447-1162
or Linda. Straka(a)dhs.sov
Mitigation for Tribal**
Officials
This course provides a 1-
week overview of FEMA's
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mitigation programs. Students
should have some familiarity
with FEMA, in terms of its
overall programs. Since May
2005, states or tribes that don't
have an approved mitigation
plan are not eligible for certain
kinds of FEMA assistance after
a disaster. Tribes can either
work through the county in
which their tribe is located or
develop their won state-level
mitigation plan. The contact for
this class is Dawn Warehime
301/447-1309 or
Dawn. Warehime(a)/dhs.gov.
Financial Opportunities
Financial Opportunities from
the Western Regional Office,
Department of Energy, Office
of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE).
EERE financial opportunities
for tribes are managed by the
Golden Field Office and
detailed on the Tribal Energy
Program Web site. This
program provides financial and
technical assistance to tribes for
feasibility studies and shares the
cost of implementing
sustainable renewable energy
installations on tribal lands.
Relevant financial solicitations
can be found on the funding
opportunities page. More:
http://www. eere. enersv.gov
/financing
Waste Management
Assistance
Solicitation are available on
the national EPA Tribal Solid
Waste Funding website at:
http://www. eva.gov/evaoswer/
non-hw/tribal/finance. htm In
order to address some issues
that were discovered during
EPAs review of the solicitation,
and to clarify portions of the
solicitation, the Office of Solid
Waste (OSW) will be issuing a
revised solicitation in the near
future. Once the revised
solicitation has been issued, the
deadlines and due dates will be
extended to allow you to have at
least 45 days to develop your
final proposal. OSW will
withdraw the notice of funding
availability from the Federal
Register and hope to get the
revised solicitation out and
posted on their web site and
grants.gov within the next few
weeks.
The Tribal Solid Waste
Interagency Workgroup is part
of an effort to coordinate
federal solid waste assistance to
tribes. Current national
Workgroup members at the
national level include
representatives from the EPA,
the BIA, the IHS, and the
Departments of Agriculture and
Defense.
This year the Workgroup is
soliciting proposals on any of
four different types of activities
that meet the goals of the
project:
(1) characterizing/assessing
open dumps; (2) developing
Integrated Solid Waste
Management (ISWM) plans,
codes, and regulations; (3)
developing and implementing
alternative solid waste
management activities/facilities
(including equipment
acquisition); and(4) cleanup,
closure, and developing post-
closure programs for open
dump waste sites on tribal
lands.
htty://wmv. eva.gov/tribalmsw.
Info: Bremer-Farnham
206/553-6697 or
bt'enter. kim(a)/epa.gov
Protection Manual
EPA has released its revised
protection standards for workers
using or handling agricultural
pesticides, or working in fields
that have been treated with
pesticides. The Worker
Protection Standards for
Agricultural Pesticides How-to-
Comply Manual is available on
the internet at: www.epa
.gov/agriculture/htc. html
Training Modules
A module uses a three-step
process and a combination of
case studies, exercises and other
interactive methods to teach the
fundamentals of a specific
environmental management
technique. A catalogue of the
modules can be found at:
htty://www. eva.gov/oia/techass
t/training/traincatalog. html
Wetlands Protection
EPA has issued guidelines for
state, tribal, and local officials
to reduce non-point source
pollution through protection and
restoration of wetlands and
riparian areas.
The document describes
practices that state, tribal, and
local program managers can
adopt to reduce non-point
source pollution from surface
water and groundwater, which
impairs wetlands and riparian
buffers.
The agency attributes water
impairment and subsequent
wetland degradation to urban
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and agricultural runoff as well
as deposition of atmospheric
pollutants in combination with
habitat altering activities, such
as dredging and streambank
stabilization.
The guidance would be
especially useful for managers
of small communities and
individual consultants. The
guidance is available at:
http://www. epa.sov/owow/nps/
wetmeasures/pdf/suidance. pdf
NCEH/ATSDR
The National Center for
Environmental Health (NCEH)
and Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR) are
soliciting interested persons to
serve as members on the
Community Tribal
Subcommittee (CTS) of the
NCEH/ATSDR Board of
Scientific Counselors (BSC).
The BSC is chartered under the
Federal Advisory Committee
Act (5 U.S.C. app.). The CTS
is composed of members of
NCEH/ATSDR BSC and
members representing
community and tribal
perspectives on environmental
health issues. More information
on NCEH can be found at:
http://www. cdc.gov/nceh.
Also, you may contact Leslie
Campbell at 888/422-8738.
Coastal Marine Grants
The National Association of
Counties, the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation, and the
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's
(NOAA's) Community-based
Restoration Program have
announced the creation of a new
grant program targeting marine
habitat restoration in coastal
counties. The Coastal Counties
Restoration Initiative will
provide financial assistance on a
competitive basis to innovative,
high-quality, county-led or -
supported projects that support
wetland, riparian, and coastal
habitat restoration. The deadline
for applications is February 24,
2006 More: htty://www.nfwf.
ors/prosrams/ccri. cfm
Wet Weather Discharges
EPA has proposed a new
policy for addressing peak wet
weather discharges at
wastewater treatment plants.
During peak wet weather,
limited diversions around
biological treatment units can
help prevent raw sewage from
being discharged into our
nation's waters, backing up into
homes and other buildings, or
damaging biological treatment
units. EPA's goal in proposing
this new policy is to ensure that
all feasible solutions are used
by local governments when
addressing problems related to
peak wet weather and to
improve treatment of
wastewater to protect human
health and the environment. For
more:
http://cfpub. epa.sov/npdes/wet
weather, cfm ?program id=0
Energy Efficiency
EPA's Energy Star program
offers a directory of energy
efficiency programs. The
directory can help local
governments identify
organizations in their state that
sponsor energy efficiency
programs that are partnered
with ENERGY STAR. These
offerings can include financial
and technical assistance to
improve energy efficiency. For
more:
http://www. enersvstar.gov/inde
x.cfm?fuseaction=DEEPS.sho
wSponsorSearch
Cryptosporidium
EPA is promulgating
National Primary Drinking
Water Regulations that require
the use of treatment techniques,
along with monitoring,
reporting, and public
notification requirements, for all
public water systems that use
surface water sources. The
purposes of the Long Term 2
Enhanced Surface Water
Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR)
are to protect public health from
illness due to Cryptosporidium
and other microbial pathogens
in drinking water and to address
risk-risk trade-offs with the
control of disinfection
byproducts. This final rule is
effective on March 6, 2006. For
more: http://www.regulations.
sov/fdmspublic-
re/1 I/component/main
The Restoration 2006
Restoration 2006 Conference
conference will be held on May
16-17, 2006 in New Orleans,
LA. The conference, organized
by the International
City/County Management
Association (ICMA), the
National Association of
Counties (NACo), and the
National League of Cities
(NLC), will be focused on long
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term and sustainable
community and economic
recovery in the aftermath of a
natural or man-made disaster. It
is designed to empower local,
state, and federal officials,
private sector practitioners,
nonprofit organizations and
others with knowledge,
networks, and strategies to
enable effective community and
economic redevelopment
following a large scale or
localized catastrophe, such as
floods, fires, tornadoes,
hurricanes, industrial accidents,
and terrorist incidents. For
more:
http://www. restoration2006. ors
Chinese Air
(Beijing, Nov. 23, 2005) A
team of U.S.-supported Chinese
researchers have outlined
strategies to dramatically reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases
and local air pollutants in
preparation for the 2008
Summer Olympics and
afterward. With clean energy
technologies and policies in
Beijing the city could reduce
annual emissions of carbon
dioxide by up to 22 percent in
2010, the study found. Output
of health-impairing particulate
matter could also be cut by up
to 40 percent each year. The
Beijing project is part of a
larger effort by EPA to work
with China and other
developing countries to promote
environmental sustainability.
Oceans.US
Oceans.US was created by
the National Oceanographic
Partnership Program.
Ocean.US is designed to
coordinate the development of
an operational and integrated
ans sustained ocean
observational system. EPA is
one of nine federal agencies
participating in the development
of this Integrated Ocean
Observing System (IOOS).
Information from this system
will serve national needs.
More: www.ocean.us.
Wetlands/Riparian Guidance
EPA recently published
National Management
Measures to Protect and
Restore Wetlands and Riparian
Areas for the Abatement of
Nonpoint Source Pollution.
The guidance gives background
information about nonpoint
source pollution, including
where it comes from and how it
enters the nation's waters. It
discusses the broad concept of
assessing and addressing water
quality problems on a watershed
level. It also presents recent
technical information about
how to reduce certain types of
nonpoing source pollution. The
guidance is intended to be a
reference document for use by
state and tribal managers and
members of the public working
on nonpoint source pollution
management programs. More:
www. epa.Łovowow/nps
/wetmeasures. For a free copy
800/490-9198 or
www. epcLgov/ncepihom.
Request publication #EPA 841-
050003.
Online Funding Directory
The Environmental finance
center at Boise State University
maintains a national funding
database called the Directory of
Watershed Resources. This
resources is an online,
searchable database for
watershed restoration funding.
It includes information on
federal, state (AK, ID, OR, &
WA), private, and other sources
of funding and assistance.
More: http://efc.boisestate.edu.
Watershed Funding
EPA has launched a new
Watershed Funding website.
The pages contain links to tool,
databases, and resources about
grants, funding, and
fundraising. The website can
help nonprofit watershed
organizations, state and local
governments and funders more
easily find information so that
they can effectively obtain and
invest resources to improve
watershed health. More: www.
epcLgov/owow/fundins. hml.
Watershed Handbook
EPA's Office of Water has
published a guide to watershed
management as a tool in
developing and implementing
watershed plans. The draft
Handbook for Developing
Watershed Plans to Restore and
Protect Our Waters is aimed
toward communities, watershed
groups, and local, state, tribal,
and federal environmental
agencies. "This handbook will
help anyone undertaking a
watershed planning effort, but it
should be particularly useful to
persons working with impaired
or threatened waters," said EPA
Assistant Administrator for
Water Benjamin H. Grumbles.
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The 414-page handbook is
designed to take the user
through each step of the
watershed planning process:
watershed monitoring and
assessment, community
outreach, selection and
application of available models,
best management ractices,
effectiveness data bases,
implementation, feedback and
plan adjustment.
The handbook is intended to
supplement existing watershed
planning guides that have been
developed by agencies,
universities, and other nonprofit
organizations Center for
Environmental Publications by
calling 800/490-9198 or e-mail
ncepimal(a)one. net. When
ordering, refer to EPA
document number EPA 841-B-
05-005
Older Americans
Working with older
Americans on environmental
issues? You might find EPA's
Power of Change kit useful.
The "Power of Change"
campaign teaches older
Americans what they can do to
help reduce waste and protect
the environment for the next
generation. This free kit of
resources explains how to
reduce waste, conserve our
natural resources, and save
energy. More:
www. epcLgov/epaoswer/asins.
National Mitigation &
Conservation Banking
Conference
The 9th National Mitigation
& Conservation Banking
Conference will be held on
April 24-27, 2006, in Portland,
OR. Features of the 2006
Conference include: Plenaries
that address the new
regulations; Interactive
concurrent and plenary sessions
offering banker, regulator and
user perspectives; Stream
Mitigation Banking Workshop;
Field Trips; Regulator &
Banker Forums; Banking
Primer 101 Workshop; Exhibits
& networking opportunities.
Some scholarships available.
More: http://www.mitigation
banking conference.com
Habitattutide
Habitattutide™, a new public
outreach effort, encourages
home aquarium owners to avoid
discarding aquatic plants or fish
into local ecosystems. The
website helps consumers learn
about preventing the spread of
invasives. The site offers
alternatives to releasing plants
and animals, provides
instructions on how individuals
and clubs can get involved, and
gives details on species that
have created problems in
aquatic systems. More:
www. habitattude. net.
Funding Allocations
With an extra $18 million for
national water quality
monitoring in fiscal year 2006,
the EPA announced plans to
allocate funds differently. The
funds supplement an existing
allocation of approximately
$200 million annually to
support state, interstate agency
and tribal programs to combat
water pollution.
The agency is changing the
way it allocates funds under the
water pollution control grant
program (known as Section 106
of the Clean Water Act). The
agency allocates the funds
through a prescribed allotment
formula. Under the revised
process, EPA will be able to
target these addition funds to
help address priorities that
include monitoring for
pollutants.
This action was taken in
response to President Bush's
fiscal year 2006 budget calling
for an increase in funding of
water quality monitoring
nationwide.
Native Peoples Website
Native Peoples, the largest
and oldest consumer magazine
dedicated to the sensitive
portrayal of the arts and
lifeways of the Native peoples
of the Americas, has recently
re-launched its website:
www. nativepeoples. com, with a
host of new features. The
redesigned site provides links to
Native organizations, business,
artists and others associated
with the Native American
community.
8th NTCEM
EPA intends to award a
competed cooperative
agreement to a federally
recognized tribe to co-sponsor
the 8th National Tribal
Conference on Environmental
Management (NTCEM). The
conference is expected to be
held in the fall of 2007.
The NTCEM has consistently
provided an effective forum for
sharing information about tribal
environmental programs and
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discussing issues of vital
interest to Indian country. One
of the most valuable aspects of
the NTCEM is the opportunity
it offers to share success stories
and promote the transfer of
information and tools to
strengthen environmental
protection in Indian country.
(More to follow)
Norway Oil
The Norwegian Petroleum
Directorate said projected
productions levels will fall from
2.56 million barrels per day in
2005 to 2.43 million barrels per
day this year. Norway is the
third larges oil exporter.
Analysts expect natural gas
exports from Norway to
increase this year, rising above
the 2005 annual record of 35.3
trillion cubic feet.
HealthySEAT
Using a holistic approach to
school health, EPA's new
Healthy School Environments
Assessment Tool
(HealthySEAT) is a free
software tool that school
districts can customize to assess
potential issues such as mold,
asbestos and lead paint, then
evaluate and manage
information on conditions at
each school. The assessment
tool can be downloaded at:
http://www. epa. soy/schools
/healthyseat
Woodstoves
EPA-certified wood stoves
emit approximately 70% less
pollution than old conventional
stoves. It is estimated that
replacing 20 old wood stoves
with 20 more energy efficient,
less polluting, EPA-certified
stoves reduces PM2.5 by 1 ton
per year and gets toxics (PAHs)
benefits also. There are
approximately 10 million wood
stoves in use at this time and
-75% of those are pre New
Source Performance Standards
(NSPS) stoves.
EPA's primary focus is on
voluntary efforts to reduce
emissions from residential
wood combustion (eg.,
woodstoves, fireplaces, and
outdoor wood boilers).
EPA has launched a new site
(http://www. epcLgov
/woodstoves/basic. html) that
provides consumers with
information on health effects of
wood smoke, benefits of using
new, cleaner-burning hearth
technologies.
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