### UPPER 

### SNAKE RIVER TRIBES 

### FOUNDATION, INC.
413 W. Idaho Street, Suite 101, Boise, Idaho 83702 Tel (208) 331

-7880 July 3, 2014 Fred Leutner Office ofScience & Technology (Mail Code 4305T) U
.S Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20460 RE: Comments on PotentialReinterpretation ofClean Water Act Provisions Regarding TribalEligibility to Obtain Treatment as a State Dear Mr. Leutner: The Upper Snake River Tribes (USRT) Foundation is composed of four Indian tribes of the Upper Snake River region in Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon: the Burns Paiute Tribe, Fort McDermitt Paiute

-Shoshone Tribe, Shoshone

-Bannock Tribes ofthe Fort Hall Reservation, and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes ofthe Duck Valley Reservation. · The four tribes have common vested interests to protect those rights reserved through Federal Treaties and Executive Orders. USRT works to ensure the protection, enhancement, and preservation of the tribes' rights, resources, cultural properties, and practices and that they remain secured under Federal Treaties and Executive Orders. These include but are not limited to hunting, fishing, gathering, and subsistence uses. USRT appreciates and supports the effort by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reinterpret the treatment oftribes in a manner similar to a state (TAS) process as provided for in the Clean Water Act (CW A). Member tribes ofUSRT encourage the EPA to formally proceed in adopting the position that Section 518 ofthe CWA is an expressed delegation by Congress for eligible tribes to administer CW A regulatory programs within their reservations regardless of land ownership. In doing so, EPA will clarify and strengthen the regulatory authority oftribes to implement EPA statues on reservatiqn lands. It is important to note that the Shoshone

-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation have gone through the TAS process for sections 303(C) Water Quality Standards and 401 Certification for Federal Permits. Unfortunately, EPA's current CWA TAS interpretation, which
.requires a demonstration of inherent authority pursuant to the Supreme Court's 

### Montana Test, leads to inevitable jurisdictional battles with antagonistic state and local governments, as well as industries and nontribal land owners. These jurisdictional battles make environmental regulation difficult
. Unnecessary struggles such as these can lead to adverse court decisions that alter the size of a July 2014 Upper SnakeRiver Tribes FoundationENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY SupportofTAS Reinterpretation Final 

### tribe's reservation or the scope of its sovereign authority. When faced with these risks, many tribes elect not to take the step of moving forward with the assumption of authority under the CWA
. Reinterpretation of Section 518 would invalidate the need for TAS applications to undergo the Montana Test, which has added an average of 2.3 years to a tribe's application process. At present, only 48 of 566 federally

-recognized tribes have successfully demonstrated their own inherent regulatory authority to EPA to implement CW A water quality standards programs. Increased tribal participation would benefit all federally-recognized tribes. EPA has the opportunity to advance the assertion oftribal authority within tribal lands through the process ofreinterpreting existing TAS provisions. This reinterpretation will allow tribes to take on the full mantle ofregulatory authority within the boundaries oftheir tribal lands. Clean water is essential to USRT member tribes, notjust as a source ofsustenance, but also for cultural, medicinal, and spiritual reasons. The ability oftribes to control pollution and protect water quality is vital to their continued survival and development. Almost no activity on the reservation has more potential to significantly affect the economic and political integrity and the health and welfare ofall reservation citizens than water use, quality, and regulation. Clarifying and simplifying the process of obtaining TAS and having the abilit y to administer CWA water quality standards programs is an important goal of USRT and our member tribes. As an agency with a trust responsibility to the tribes, USRT urges the EPA to continue moving forward with the reinterpretation of Section 518, which will improve tribal health and the environment on not only USRT member tribes' reservations, but all reservations within the United States. USRT appreciates and supports the on-going efforts by EPA on this matter. Reinterpretation of existing TAS provisions by EPA will assuredly assist tribes in their long struggle to secure full regulatory authority as sovereign nations over tribal water, air, and land resources. Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Heather Ray, USRT Executive Director at (208) 331-7880 or (208) 608-4131 and/or heather@usrtf.org. Sincerely,

# ~~ Heather Ray Executive Director

July 2014 2 Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation