## SAN CARLOS APACHE TRIBE Office of the Attorney General

Post Office Box 0 San Carlos, Arizona 85550

Tel. ( 928) 475-3344  Fax (928) 475-2296  E-Mail alex.ritchie@ scat-nsn.gov

___________________________________________________ _________________

May 22, 2014

Electronically transmitted to: furtak.sarah@epa.gov

Sarah Furtak Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Mail code: 4503T Washington, DC 20460

Re: Consultation on a Rulemaking to Provide More Opport unities for Tribes to Engage in the Clean Water Act Impaired Listing and Total Maximum Daily Load Program

Dear Ms. Furtak:

I represent the San Carlos Apache Tribe (“Tribe”) as its attorney. On behalf of the Tribe, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the scope of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) rulemaking to provide more opportu nities for federally recognized tribes to more fully engage in Clean Water Act (“CWA”) Sectio n 303(d) Impaired Water Listing and Total Maximum Daily Load (“TMDL”) Program.

Initially, the Tribe notes that the EPA’s comment period is inadequate for the Tribe to submit meaningful comments on the important matter which may affect the rulemaking. The EPA’s rulemaking may affect a wide variety and rang e of Tribal activities, services and resources, ranging from recreation, agriculture, re sidential planning and development, economic planning and development as well as environmental p rotection and quality. Each of our Tribal Departments requires a meaningful chance to examine the issues and provide input to the Tribal Council so that the Tribal Council may develop appr opriate suggestions to address the scope of the rulemaking. The short comment period does not provide the Tribe’s various departments anSarah Furtak

Re: Section 303(d) rulemaking May 22, 2014 Page 2 of 3

______________________

adequate opportunity to engage in the development o f any meaningful policy on behalf of the

Tribe.

Accordingly, the Tribe requests an extension of ti me for an additional ninety (90) days beyond the currently scheduled deadline of May 22, 2014, to submit comments on any proposed rulemaking. Alternatively, the Tribe would suggest a second round of consultation prior to the publication of any proposed regulations for final c omment.

There are certain matters which are of overarching concern to the Tribe which the Tribe believes any proposed rules should address. First, any rules should recognize the Tribe’s sovereignty over its lands and resources including water. The Tribe is very concerned that any rules do not infringe on Tribal sovereignty or dire ctly interfere with Tribal self-governance resulting in an unlawful restriction of the benefic ial use of the Reservation to serve as the permanent Tribal homeland of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Second, any proposed regulations should acknowledg e and recognize that tribal issues include effects on properties of traditional religi ous and cultural significance and sacred sites. Given the life-giving quality of water in a desert habitat, water bodies, steams, seeps and springs may have important religious, cultural and sacred s ignificance to tribes.

Third, the Tribe is particularly concerned that an y proposed rules would provide recognize the importance of adequate funding, inclu ding contract or grant administration funding. Since the proposed rule will provide a pr ocess by which a tribe will assume section 303(d) and TMDL portion of its water pollution cont rol program and more fully engage tribes in restoring, maintaining and protecting tribal waters , adequate funding is critical at all stages of the TMDL process from developing TMDLs to implementing EPA-approved cleanup plans.

Finally, the Tribe places a high value on the wild life, plants and all natural resources which it is charged to preserve and protect under i ts Constitution. The Tribe through the Elders Council has developed Four Traditional Guiding Prin ciples used to manage our Tribal lands. The principles are based on Tribal Ecological Knowl edge built from local knowledge base through experience and observation from our Elders. The Tribe feels strongly and recommends the EPA use these Four Guiding Principles in any de cision or rulemaking procedures, as follows:

1. Respect all aspects of the natural world. The base of traditional Apache culture is maintaining strong and healthy relationships with a ll of the elements of the natural world; with one’s friends, relatives, and community; and w ith one’s self. This requires an indepth ecological education, whether traditional, no n-Indian, or both.

2. All activities must ensure the long-term health of the natural world, especially emphasizing the prime importance of water. The traditional guidelines governing land-management practices – such as agriculture, hu nting, wild food and natural resource harvesting, and obtaining water for drinking and ir rigation – emphasize minimizing impacts on the natural world, and preserving the mo st natural state of the land asSarah Furtak

Re: Section 303(d) rulemaking May 22, 2014 Page 3 of 3

______________________

possible. This includes, above all, ensuring the l ong-term health of natural water

resources. In our view, we must resolve to utilize and profit from natural resources without harming them or otherwise upsetting the nat ural balance of the environment.

3. All activities must benefit the entire community. We all belong to the land. All activities impact the natural world, and affect us all. We must ensure that our activities are for the benefit of all, by working openly toget her as a community.

4. Economic activities must be broad-based and varied. Apaches have survived all kinds of climatic extremes, both environmental and econom ic, by depending on a multitude of economic endeavors – even when neighbors have peris hed. Traditional culture emphasizes distributing economic sustenance over a broad range of practices – such as agriculture, hunting and gathering, and trading – r ather than emphasizing just one. This creates a healthy buffer to environmental and econo mic crises.

Please advise me if the Tribe will be provided wit h the opportunity to submit additional comments regarding the proposed rulemaking after ou r tribal stakeholders have had a complete opportunity to study the impact of proposed rulemak ing. Nevertheless, the Tribe wishes to remain engaged with the EPA on this proposed rulema king and would welcome government-to government consultation in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide these com ments on behalf of the Tribe.

Sincerely,

Alexander B. Ritchie Tribal Attorney General

cc: Terry Rambler, Chairman John Bush, Vice Chairman

Tribal Council Members Terry Jones, General Manager Loretta Stone, TEPA, Env. Director Emogene Casey, TEPA, Env. Specialist Dr. Stephen Johnson, Hydrologist Justine Jimmie, Deputy AG

file