Introduction

[Dean Suagee <dsuagee@vermontlaw.edu>]

Good morning.  My name is Dean Suagee, and I'm on the faculty of Vermont Law School as Director of the First Nations Environmental Law Program. I also spend some time practicing law with a firm that works for Indian tribal governments.  My fields of practice and teaching are Indian law and environmental law.  I'm also a member of the Indigenous Peoples Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC).

One reason that I decided to participate in this dialogue is to be available if necessary to remind other participants that there are three kinds of sovereigns in our federal system:  the federal governments, the states and the tribes. Public participation can raise some rather unique issues in Indian country, some of which are in one way or another implications of the fact that lots of people in this country just don't seem to think about tribes as sovereign governments. This is particularly important in the context of federal environmental statutes administered by EPA, several of which authorize tribes to assume regulatory roles comparable to those of states. For participants and readers who may want some references on the status of tribal governments in our federal system, the Indigenous Peoples Subcommittee of the NEJAC has prepared a document entitled "Guide on Consultation and Collaboration with Indian Tribal Governments and the Public Participation of Indigenous Groups and Tribal Members in Environmental Decision Making," which can be downloaded from the website of EPA's Office of Environmental Justice in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance (OECA):  www.epa.gov/oeca/ej.

I want to stress that this is a NEJAC document, not an official EPA document.

In writing that document, we tried to draw a distinction between consultation with tribal governments in a government-to-government fashion and public participation. My experience leads me to believe that, when an EPA decision affects Indian country, government-to-government consultation with the tribe is a necessary prerequisite to effective public participation.

I suppose that's enough for an opening statement.

I should also note that I probably will not be able to participate in this discussion to the extent that I would like because this is the third session of the Vermont Law School summer program and I am teaching a course in Indian Country Natural and Cultural Resources Law.