UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 10

Mr. Babtist Paul Lumley Executive Director 1200 S 1xth Av enue , Su i te 9 00 S ea ttl e
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Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 729 NE Oregon, Suite 200 Portland , Oregon 97232
Dear Mr. Lumley: · 

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# -- OFFIC E OF THE REGIONAL

**AD~IIN'STRATOR**

Thank you for your correspondence dated September 14, 2012 , which expresses concerns regarding the fish consumption rates used to derive human health criteria in the Pacific Northwest. Your letter also discusses the trust responsibility of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that state water quality standards are sufficient to protect tribal members. Due to recent events in Washington and Idaho, you asked the EPA to take a leadership role in developing a regional default fish consumption rate of at least 175 grams per day. I also appreciated hearing your perspectives and discuss ing these issues with you at the 2012 Annual Convention of the Affiliated Tribes ofNorthwest Indians in September. Adop tion of human health criteria that reflect an appropriate fish consumption rate for Washington's and Idaho's waters and that address the EPA's desire for regional consistency remains a high priority for the EPA. Our recent actions in Idaho and Oregon provide strong precedent for future state rev isions to their human health criteria and sh ow the EPA's ob l igation to ensure that states use a protective fish consumption rate to derive these criteria. Your letter also expresses frustration with the length of time it has taken for the Washington Department of Ecology to adopt a protective fish consumption rate to derive human health water quality criteria and Ecology's recent changes in their Sediment Management Standards revisions and Fish Consumption Rate Technical Support Document. The EPA is committed to wo rking with Ecology to adopt protective human health criteria in an efficient and timely manner; and, we will help provide Ecology the support and resources to accomp lish this goal. At this time, we beli eve it's appropriate for Ecology to lead this work with the EPA's assistance , and we are pleased to see that Ecology has shown its commitment to adopt new human health criteria by i ssuing a formal notice for rule-making activities on September 21, 2012.
Your letter also d iscusses concerns regarding a potential delay if Idaho were to conduct a new fish consumption survey as indicated in a letter from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's Director Barry Burnell dated August 6, 2012. The EPA strongly supports adoption ofhuman health criteria that are derived using scientifically sound data, including applicable regional and local fish consumption rate surveys
. While we believe that regional and local fish cons umption data are currently avai lable to support state and tribal water quality cri ter ia development, we acknowledge t h at fi sh consumption information for Idaho is much more limited. Therefore , the EPA is continuing to discu s s these issues with Idaho and the tribes, and is participating in the public meetings th at the IDEQ initi ated as part of its negotiated rulemaking process on October 4, 2012. T he p urpose ofthese meetings is forIdaho to evaluate potential revisions to its human health criteria. The issue of applicable and available fish consumption information and the quality of those data are a key part of the di sc u ssions. I was pleased to hear that CRITFC staff and other tribal members attended the meeting and we look forward to your continued participation in future meetings

. In summary, the tribes in the Pacific Northwest have a very important ro le in ensuring successful adoption of human health criteria that address tribal fish consumption concerns. I appreciate the CRITFC's efforts thu s far and hope that you will continue to provide the clear message that an accurate and protective fish consumption rate is not only important to the tribal community and for tribal rights , but also for the general health of the people in the Pacific Northwest. The EPA looks forward to continued collaboration with you for a successful outcome. If you have further questions, please contact Angela Chung, EPA's Water Quality Standards Unit Manager, at (206) 553-6511 or Dan Opalski, our Director for the Office of Water and Watersheds, at (206) 553-1855.

cc: Mr. Ted Sturdevant, Director Washington State Department of Ecology
Mr. Barry Burnell, Director Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Sincerely,

Dennis J. McLerran Regional Administrator