UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

REGION I 

February 13, 2015 

Hon.PaulR.LePage 

Governor 

1 State House Station 

Augusta, Maine, 04333-0001 

5 POST OFFICE SQUARE SUITE 100 

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02109-3912 

Re: Maine Water Quality Standards in Tribal Waters 

Dear Governor LePage: 

Thank you for your letter of February 11,2015. EPA's decision on Maine's water quality 

standards as they apply to tribal waters in Maine resulted from a careful analysis of the 

requirements of the Clean Water Act and the Indian settlement acts in Maine, both federal and 

state. EPA also considered and relied on a written Legal opinion dated January 30, 2015 from the 

Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, which addressed several of the issues involved in 

EPA's decision. I can assure you that the Agency was motivated solely by the desire to apply 

those statutes faithfully. 

As you point out and as EPA confirmed, the Indian settlement acts authorize the State to set 

water quality standards in tribal waters in Maine. But those acts do more than extend the State's 

jurisdiction to regulate the environment to waters in Indian territories and lands. They confirmed 

that four Tribes in Maine are recognized by both the state and the federal governments. They 

provided for a land base in the State on which the Tribes could maintain and sustain their unique 

cultures. And finally, they provided for the Tribes to exercise their long held practice of fishing 

for their sustenance as a vital part of that tribal culture. As EPA explained in its February 2, 

2015 decision, in identifYing the uses of the tribal waters that water quality criteria must protect 

under the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), EPA could not ignore an important purpose of the Indian 

settlement acts to provide the Tribes the ability to continue their sustenance fishing practices. 

The Agency is eager to work with Maine if the State is interested in developing revised human 

health criteria that will protect the Tribes' sustenance fishing practices. I understand that 

responding to EPA's decision constructively may take longer than 90 days. Please understand 

that Congress wrote the 90-day timeframe into the CW A; the Agency did not select it. But it is 

important to be clear about what does and does not happen after 90 days. After that date, while 

EPA has the duty under the CW A to propose and promulgate federal standards if the State does 

not adequately respond to EPA's disapproval of the State's human health criteria, the State 

nevertheless retains the authority to address EPA's disapproval and revise its standards to avoid a 

federal promulgation. If Maine is diligently working to develop criteria that protect the Tribes' 
sustenance fishing in tribal waters, but is unable to complete that effort in 90 days, EPA would 

be happy to continue working with the State beyond the 90-day period to help ensure the 

adoption of adequate state criteria. 

I am pleased that you and Commissioner Aho remain focused on protecting Maine waters based 

on sound science and applicable law, as is EPA. I hope we can cooperate in assuring that the 

sustenance fishing practices that are part of the state and federal law applicable to these waters 

will be protected. 

Si~)/)Y 

H. Curtis Spalding 

Regional Administrator 

cc: Commissioner Patricia Aho, Maine DEP 

Hon. Susan M. Collins, U.S. Senate 

Hon. Angus S. King, U.S. Senate 

Hon. Bruce L. Poliquin, U.S. House of Representatives 

Hon. Chellie M. Pingree, U.S. House of Representatives 

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