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 of Science & Technology (Mail Code 4305T) 

U.S Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20460 

RE: Comments on Potential Reinterpretation of Clean Water Act Provisions Regarding 

Tribal Eligibility 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 of the Fort Hall Reservation, and 

Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the 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 of tribes in a manner similar to a state (TAS) process as provided for in 

the Clean Water Act (CW A). Member tribes of USRT encourage the EPA to formally proceed 

in adopting the position that Section 518 of the CW A 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 of tribes 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 Snake River Tribes Foundation 
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

Support of TAS 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 

CW A. Reinterpretation of Section 518 would invalidate the need for T AS 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 of tribal authority within tribal lands through the process 

of reinterpreting existing T AS provisions. This reinterpretation will allow tribes to take on the 

full mantle of regulatory authority within the boundaries of their tribal lands. 

Clean water is essential to USRT member tribes, not just as a source of sustenance, but also for 

cultural, medicinal, and spiritual reasons. The ability of tribes 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 of all reservation citizens than water use, quality, and regulation. 

Clarifying and simplifying the process of obtaining TAS and having the ability 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 T AS 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