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EPA’s Planned Proposed Rulemaking to Address the Pr ocess for Tribes to Obtain

Treatment in a Similar Manner as States for the Cle an Water Act Impaired Water Listing and Total Maximum Daily Load Program – Meeting with the Region 6 and Region 9 Regional Tribal Operations Councils

Meeting Summary

Region 6 Regional Tribal Operations Council – May 6 , 2014 Teleconference Summary

EPA Presenter: Sarah Furtak, EPA Office of Wetla nds, Oceans and Watersheds

Participants: About 30 tribal representativ es attended; EPA Region 6 participants included Randy Gee, Steve Gilrein, and Mark Allen.

The teleconference began with introductions followe d by presentation by Sarah based on briefing slides available on EPA’s website http://www.epa.gov/tmdl/tribal-consultationrulemaking-provide-more-opportunities-tribes-engage -clean-water-act . The planned proposed rulemaking to address the process for tribes to obt ain treatment in a similar manner as states for the Clean Water Act Impaired Water Listing and Tota l Maximum Daily Load Program was one of several on the agenda.

The following is a list of questions and comments r eceived from tribal participants during the meeting. For each of the questions, EPA presenters provided responses that were consistent with the presentation materials and other information av ailable at http://www.epa.gov/tmdl/tribalconsultation-rulemaking-provide-more-opportunities- tribes-engage-clean-water-act . Tribal views and comments provided were acknowledged, and will be considered by EPA in developing the proposed rule.

• How does EPA plan to coordinate with states?

• What happens when a waterway is shared between a st ate/tribal boundary (e.g., if the tribe drafts a TMDL based upon EPA-approved WQS of the tribe)?

• Will there be any significant changes to the QAPP [ Quality Assurance Project Plan] process when a tribe with treatment in a similar ma nner as a state (TAS) for Clean Water
Act section 303(d)?

• If a tribe applies for treatment in a similar manne r as a state for 303(d), will a tribe need to do a Clean Water Act section 305(b) report?Page 2 of 2

Region 9 Regional Tribal Operations Council – Octob er 28, 2015 Teleconference Summary

EPA Presenter: James Havard, EPA Office of Wetla nds, Oceans and Watersheds

Participants: About 30 tribal representativ es attended; EPA Region 9 participants included Danielle Angeles, Toma s Torres, Stephanie Wilson, Gail Louis, and Timothy

Wilhite.

The planned proposed rulemaking was one of several topics on the agenda. The teleconference began with introductions followed by presentation b y James based on briefing slides “Planned Proposed Rulemaking to Provide More Opportunities f or Tribes to Fully Engage in the Clean Water Act Impaired Water Listing and Total Maximum Daily Load Program” (October 28, 2015), available within docket EPA-HQ-OW-2014-0622. Another document, “Planned Proposed Rulemaking to Provide More Opportunities for Tribes to Fully Engage in the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) Impaired Water Listing and TMDL Prog ram” (October 2015) was provided to participants of the meeting, and is available withi n docket EPA-HQ-OW-2014-0622.

Participants raised questions about time frame and overall implementation of the 303(d) Program in Indian country.