Involvement in Delegated Programs

[Mary Hamel <hamelm@dnr.state.wi.us>]

One of my coworkers offers the following thought:

One thing EPA could do to encourage and promote public involvement is to work towards bringing states and tribes together with regard to environmental programs (delegated and non-delegated).  EPA has a tendency to separate state and tribal programs from each other without understanding that indirect impacts may occur to the other government.  For example, whenever there are discussions or soliciation for input for developing a rule/program directed a tribal governments, EPA has a habit of excluding or limiting state involvement, reasoning that only the tribal government is affected.  However, there are many non-tribal citizens living on tribal-owned lands and sometimes actions on tribal lands affect areas of non-tribal lands.  The flip side is true for state programs potentially affecting tribal lands.