UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

REGION 10 

Mr. Babtist Paul Lumley 

Executive Director 

1200 S1xth Avenue, Suite 900 

Sea ttle. W A 98101-3140 

OC T 1 8 2012 

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 

729 NE Oregon, Suite 200 

Portland, Oregon 97232 

Dear Mr. Lumley: · \ --

OFFICE 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 discussing these issues with 

you at the 2012 Annual Convention of the Affiliated Tribes ofNorthwest Indians in September. 

Adoption 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 revisions to their 

human health criteria and show the EPA's obligation 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 working 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 accomplish this goal. At this time, we believe 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 issuing a formal notice for rule-making activities on September 21, 

2012. 

Your letter also discusses 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 consumption data are currently 

available to support state and tribal water quality criteria development, we acknowledge that fish 

consumption information for Idaho is much more limited. Therefore, the EPA is continuing to discuss 

these issues with Idaho and the tribes, and is participating in the public meetings that the IDEQ initiated 

as part of its negotiated rulemaking process on October 4, 2012. The purpose ofthese meetings is for 
Idaho 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 discussions. 

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 role in ensuring successful 

adoption of human health criteria that address tribal fish consumption concerns. I appreciate the 

CRITFC's efforts thus 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