**Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe**

**Comments Regarding February 9, 2007 Federal Register Notice
(FRL-8277-5)**

**OECA Priorities for Fiscal Years 2008, 2009 and 2010**

# Page 1 of 2

General Comments

Our remarks focus on refinement of OECA's "Tribal" national priority
listed in the Federal Register comment solicitation. Linkage with all of
the Clean Water Act (CWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) will also be briefly discussed.

We appreciate OECA's attention to the many environmental quality issues
in Indian Country and Alaska. As noted in OECA's Federal Register
announcement, Tribal members do indeed "face significant threats to
human health and the environment posed by pollution of the air, water,
and land". These threats impact both our Reservation and Ceded
Territories with pollution coming from local, regional and global
sources. Global emissions of mercury may be the most widely recognized
example of long-range pollution transport but other pollutants such as
PCBs are identified with long-range transport as well. All of our Tribal
waters are severely impaired due to mercury pollution of the fish. This
is most poignantly and particularly the case for the most susceptible of
our Tribal population, women of child bearing age and children. Fish is
universally acknowledged to some of the best food for humans, "brain
food and heart healthy". Eliminating or limiting fish from our diet due
to toxic substances in the fish negatively impacts Tribal physical,
cultural and spiritual health.

Priorities:

1.  We ask and recommend that OECA assess compliance and enforcement
    issues listed below in a framework of Tribal traditional resource
    use. Conceptual models for Tribal cultural resource use scenarios
    exist in the literature and several have been developed in
    conjunction with CERCLA (Superfund) and CWA compliance activities in
    Indian Country. Numerous Tribal Government staff have been, and
    continue to be, engaged in developing Tribally protective
    environmental quality standards for both proscriptive and
    prescriptive resource management issues. Tribal professional groups
    such as the Tribal Superfund Working Group and Tribal Air
    Association will gladly assist OECA staff in locating the necessary
    information to assess resource pollution issues using a Tribally
    relevant methodology.

**Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe**

**Comments Regarding February 9, 2007 Federal Register Notice
(FRL-8277-5)**

**OECA Priorities for Fiscal Years 2008, 2009 and 2010**

# Page 2 of 2

2.  Using a Tribally relevant framework, assess CWA related impacts to
    Tribal Reservation and or Ceded Territory resources such as fish,
    wildlife and wild rice due to impaired waters. Assess impacts that
    point sources such as NPDES permits may be having on Tribal water
    quality and Tribal designated (Treaty resource) uses. Likewise for
    non-point source pollution, investigate runoff from sources
    including clear cuts and other soil disrupting activities, feedlot
    and stormwater impacts to Tribal designated uses The non-point
    source assessment must also include atmospheric deposition of
    pollution to our waters such as mercury, documenting the devastating
    impacts of mercury to Tribal health, welfare and culture.

3.  Assess CERCLA Superfund activities in Indian Country for consistency
    across the nation regarding the use of Tribally relevant assessment
    and cleanup criteria and standards where contaminated site pollution
    potentially impacts Tribal Reservation and or Ceded Territory
    resources.

4.  Assess CAA New Source Review/Prevention of Significant Deterioration
    and Air Toxics compliance and enforcement for inclusion of Tribally
    relevant resource protection criteria and standards where new and
    existing permits for air emissions potentially impact Tribal
    Reservation and or Ceded Territory resources. And, ensure that the
    toxic substance ***mercury*** is included in the MACT compliance
    standards.

5.  Assess Federal and State new and existing mining permits for
    compliance with protectiveness of Tribally relevant resource uses
    where those mining activities potentially impact Tribal Reservation
    and or Ceded Territory resources.

6.  Assess Tribal community water supplies.

7.  Assess EPA's efforts to assist Tribal Governmental Solid Waste
    institutional capacity building for illegal and open dump cleanup
    compliance.

John Persell

Leech Lake Division of Resources Management

218-335-7412

Note: Our use of the terms Reservation, Ceded Territory and Indian
Country is not intended to describe all Tribal resources or resource use
areas in the United States.