UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 10 1200 Sixth Avenue , Suite 900 Seattle, WA 98101-3140
OFFICE OF WATER AND WATERSHEDS 

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### 2 3 Z015 Re: Consultation Offer on Proposed Federal Rulemaking to Revise Oregon's Freshwater Aquatic Life Criteria for Acute Cadmium and Acute and Chroni c Copper. Dear Tribal Leader : The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is initiating consultation and coordination on a proposed federal rulemaking to revise the freshwater aquatic li fe aquatic life criteria for acute cadmium and acute and chronic copper. We wou ld like to offer you the opportunity to engage in government-to-government consultation with the EPA about our upcoming propo sa l. As you may recall , in 2004 the Oregon D epartment of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) submitted revised freshwat er aquatic life criteria for cadmium and copper to the EPA for review and action. On January 31, 2013, the EPA disapproved the revised freshwater c riteria for acute cadmium and acute and chronic copper. To address the disapproval action and to ensure that aquatic lif e are protected , the EPA is proposing to update the fr es hw ater aquatic life criteria for acute cadmium and acute and chronic copper as the y app ly to Oregon waters. If finaliz ed, the new criteria would serve as the water quality targets for a number of CW A regulatory proc esses, including deve lopm ent of Nationa l Pollutant Discharge E limin ation S ys tem (NPDES) permits and Tota l M ax imum Daily Loads (TMDLs). In the federal rul e making, th e E PA plan s to use existing an d n ew 304(a) national crit eria recommendation s for copper and cadmium to en sure th at aquatic li fe are protected in Ore go n waters. For example, the EPA plans to mak e the freshwater acute and c hronic copp er criteria co n s istent with the EPA's current 304(a) nation a l recommendation fo r copp er. A dditionall y, the EPA is currently updatin g it s 304(a) n ati onal recommendation for fres h wate r acute cadm i um. When co mpleted the EPA p lans to includ e the updated acute cadmium criterion in its rulemaking. The EPA is mo v in g ahead with a federa l rulemaking to fulfill its responsibility to promptly propo se replacement criteria for Oregon after the Janu a r y 2013 dis approva l action. Howev er, the EPA acknowl edges that Orego n h as initi ated a rulemaking proces s to re vi se its copper criteria to address the E PA 's January 20 1 3 disapproval action (at this time , Oregon is focusing its efforts on developing copper criteria and is not planning to address cadmium in the near future)
. Th e E PA prefers that s tate s rev i se water quality s tandard s for state waters and we are optimistic that Oreg on can compl e te a copp er criteri a r ev i s ion that i s consistent with CW A requirements. If Orego n submits fin a l copper c riteria for CWA appro val before the E PA finaliz es the fed eral copper criteria, the EPA intend s to revi ew and act upon th e s tate' s submission in a timely manner and prior to any final act ion o n the federal criteria. If the EPA approves the criteria submitted by th e state, the EPA wi ll either not finali ze or w ill withdraw the correspond in g federa l copper criteria.The EPA is hosting a conference call for triba l technical staff on December 15,20 1 5, from 9:00AM to 10:00 AM Pacific Time to provide staff with addit ional information on the federa l rulemaking and to answer any questions your tribe may have at that time. The call

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-number is 866-299

- 3188 and the conference code is 206 553 1256#
. If you would like to consult on the EPA's upcoming**propo ed**  federal rule for acute cadmium and acute and chronic copper, p lease have your staff contact Kathleen Collins at 206

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- 2108 or via email at collins.kathleen @ epa.gov by Friday January 8 , 2016. A l so, p lease identify a point of contact for planning the consultation and any policy that the Tribe may have regarding consultation. Whether or not you participate in this consultation process, you will still have the opportunity to provide input on the proposed rulemaking during the federal proposed rule public comment period
. The federal rule is expected to be published for public comment early in 2016. If yo u have any questions or need additional information , please do not hesitate to contact me at 206

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- 1855. We look forward to meet ing with you. Sincere ly,

# ~~ Daniel D. Opal ski, Director Office of Water and Watersheds



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