COLUMBIA RIVER INTER-TRIBAL FISH COMMISSION

700 NE Multnomah Street, Suite 1200

Portland, Oregon 97232

(503) 238-0667

F (503) 235-4228

www.critfc.org

Putting fish back in the rivers and protecting the watersheds where fish live

October 31, 2014

Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator

USEPA Headquarters

William Jefferson Clinton Building

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Mail Code: 1101A

Washington, DC 20460

Re: Washington Water Quality Standards,

 Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Resolution #14-56

Dear Administrator McCarthy:

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission’s (CRITFC) member tribes — the

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm 

Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and 

the Nez Perce Tribe — have asked that I send to you the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians 

(ATNI) resolution that was adopted by the 57 tribal governments that comprise ATNI at their 

Annual Convention, held September 22-25, 2014 (see attached). The title of the resolution is:

“Supporting EPA Promulgation of Surface Water Quality Standards for 

Washington State, and Opposing Governor Inslee’s Policy Decision to Weaken 

Cancer Protection Criteria.”

This resolution requests that EPA uphold its commitment to tribes in the region and begin 

promulgation of surface water quality standards in Washington State. It also requests that you

reject the State’s proposed policy choice of using a cancer risk level that is 10 times less 

protective than the State’s current and widely accepted one-in-one-million risk level.

Our Commission concurs with the members of ATNI on this issue and strongly supports the 

actions requested of EPA in the resolution. In addition, CRITFC continues to endorse the 

position of Region 10 Administrator Dennis McLerran, who recognizes that more stringent water 

quality standards are necessary in the State of Washington and throughout the region to meet the 

requirements of the Clean Water Act. Our Commission also has serious concerns about the

decision by the State to make the outcome of the water quality standards development process 

contingent on vague and uncertain future actions by the State legislature.
Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator

October 31, 2014

We thank you for your consideration of these comments and stand ready to assist and inform 

your work. If you would like to discuss how our organization can work with EPA on this very 

important issue, please contact me or Paul Lumley at (503) 238-0667.

Sincerely,

Carlos Smith

CRITFC Chairman

Attachment

Cc: Dennis McLerran, Administrator, EPA Region 10

Lisa Feldt, Acting Deputy Administrator

Ken Kopocis, Acting Assistant Administrator for Office of Water
2014 Annual Convention

Mission, Oregon

RESOLUTION #14 - 56

“SUPPORTING EPA PROMULGATION OF SURFACE WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

FOR WASHINGTON STATE, AND OPPOSING GOVERNOR INSLEE’S

POLICY DECISION TO WEAKEN CANCER PROTECTION CRITERIA”

PREAMBLE

We, the members of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) of the United States, 

invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve 

for ourselves and our descendants rights secured under Indian Treaties, Executive Orders, and 

benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States and several 

states, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve 

Indian cultural values, and otherwise to promote the welfare of the Indian people, do hereby 

establish and submit the following resolution:

WHEREAS, the ATNI are representatives of and advocates for national, regional, and 

specific tribal concerns; and

WHEREAS, ATNI is a regional organization comprised of American Indians/Alaska 

Natives and tribes in the states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Northern 

California, and Alaska; and

WHEREAS, promotion of the health, safety, welfare, education, economic and 

employment opportunities of native people and preservation of their cultural and natural 

resources are primary goals and objectives of the ATNI; and

WHEREAS, since time immemorial we, the first people of the Pacific Northwest, have 

cared for and sustained our way of life, religion and culture beginning with the pure water that 
AFFILIATED TRIBES OF NORTHWEST INDIANS RESOLUTION #14 - 56

2014 ANNUAL CONVENTION PAGE 2

we hold sacred, and we are obligated to take appropriate and necessary actions to care for the 

water for the next seven generations; and

WHEREAS, on July 9, 2014, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced his policy 

choices for revising the State’s surface water quality standards, which fail to meet the tribes’ goal 

of protecting human health and Treaty and other tribal reserved rights for future generations and 

delay the adoption of State standards until after the next session of the Washington State 

Legislature; and

WHEREAS, the proposed standards’ human health criteria would include an increase in 

the Fish Consumption Rate to 175 grams per day, but negates this potential improvement in 

water quality by simultaneously weakening the cancer risk level from the current level of 1 in 

one million to 1 in 100,000; and

WHEREAS, the weakened cancer risk level and other proposed criteria would result in 

water quality standards that maintain the status quo for the discharge of cancer-causing 

chemicals and other toxic substances that are responsible for health warnings and fishing 

closures throughout Washington; and

WHEREAS, the Governor’s proposal will continue an ongoing environmental injustice 

by subjecting tribal people to disproportionately higher risks simply from exercising our rights to

our First Foods and practicing our religion and culture; and

WHEREAS, after years of delay, the Governor’s proposal would result in another delay 

of, at minimum, nine to twelve months until revised standards are adopted and will depend on 

uncertain and unpredictable action by the Washington State Legislature in 2015; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has previously notified 

the State that revised water quality standards must be adopted by the end of 2014; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that ATNI requests that the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency uphold its commitments to tribes, and begin promulgation of surface water 

quality standards in Washington State that will protect human health, safeguard Treaty Rights to 

harvest clean, consumable fish, and uphold its commitment to Environmental Justice for tribal 

communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that ATNI opposes and rejects Washington Governor 

Jay Inslee’s proposal and his policy choices for revising surface water quality standards, in 

particular his decision to use a risk level that is 10 times less protective against cancer; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that ATNI specifically finds that the proposal to make

revising water quality standards contingent upon legislative action sets an unacceptable 

precedent for Clean Water Act rulemaking, and will result in additional unnecessary delay, if not 

abandonment, of efforts to revise standards; and
AFFILIATED TRIBES OF NORTHWEST INDIANS RESOLUTION #14 - 56

2014 ANNUAL CONVENTION PAGE 3

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that ATNI urges EPA to similarly oppose and reject

Governor Inslee’s proposal, and refuse to tolerate additional delays in rulemaking; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that ATNI encourages EPA, in determining its 

response to the Governor’s proposal, to consider as the ultimate deciding factors: (1) honoring 

Treaty Rights to non-toxic fish, (2) fulfilling its Trust Responsibility to affected tribes, and (3) 

implementing its Environmental Justice Policy; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that ATNI urges EPA to immediately initiate the 

process to promulgate surface water quality standards for the State of Washington that 

adequately protect tribal people and others, using at minimum a compromise 175 grams per day 

Fish Consumption Rate and a cancer risk level of 1 in one million.

CERTIFICATION

The foregoing resolution was adopted at the 2014 Annual Convention of the Affiliated 

Tribes of Northwest Indians, held at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino, in Mission, Oregon, on 

September 22-25, 2014, with a quorum present.

______________________________ ______________________________

Fawn Sharp, President Norma Jean Louie, Secretary