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

Treatment in a Similar Manner as States for the Clean 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 Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds 

Participants: About 30 tribal representatives attended; EPA Region 6 participants included 

 Randy Gee, Steve Gilrein, and Mark Allen. 

The teleconference began with introductions followed 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 obtain treatment in a similar manner as states for 

the Clean Water Act Impaired Water Listing and Total Maximum Daily Load Program was one 

of several on the agenda. 

The following is a list of questions and comments received 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 available 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 state/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 manner as a state (TAS) for Clean Water 

Act section 303(d)? 

• If a tribe applies for treatment in a similar manner as a state for 303(d), will a tribe need 

to do a Clean Water Act section 305(b) report? 
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Region 9 Regional Tribal Operations Council – October 28, 2015 

Teleconference Summary 

 

EPA Presenter: James Havard, EPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds 

Participants: About 30 tribal representatives attended; EPA Region 9 participants included 

 Danielle Angeles, Tomas 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 by James based on briefing slides “Planned 

Proposed Rulemaking to Provide More Opportunities for 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 Program” (October 2015) was provided to 

participants of the meeting, and is available within docket EPA-HQ-OW-2014-0622. 

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

in Indian country.