Doc. 30- Second Amended Complaint
Previous Turtle Talk coverage here.
Maine is suing the EPA over agency action concerning the State’s surface water quality standards.
Environmental Protection Agency
President’s Memo Outlines New Environmental Policy
Link to Memorandum here.
The Obama Administration advised the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense, EPA, and NOAA to avoid harming the environment by ensuring, at minimum, a “no net loss goal” for natural resources deemed important, scarce, or sensitive. The Departments will forgo development of resources deemed “irreplaceable.”
The new policy requires federal regulators to evaluate every proposed natural resource project from a large-scale context, including water-shed and landscape impacts. Going forward, the government’s policy will be to protect the environment by foreseeing and mitigating any damage ahead of time. The Departments have been given a time table for finalizing mitigation mechanisms and guidance.
This is the latest episode in a controversy over energy developments in Indian Country. Republicans in Congress are attempting to enact a law that would speed up energy development on Tribal lands after a GAO report criticized the 2005 federal process for transferring management of energy development to Tribes that has not resulted in any agreements (TERAs).
EPA Releases Internal Report on Gold King Mine Accident
EPA internal report here.
[T]he Team concludes that the Adit blowout was likely inevitable. Actions taken by the EPA OSC to pull out the site personnel and crew from and near the Adit, just prior to the blowout, probably avoided any fatalities from the pressurized Adit blowout.
Although the removal investigation team was quite experienced and followed standard procedures of a well thought out work plan that included state and ARSG involvement, the underestimation of the water pressure in the Gold King Mine workings is believed to be the most significant factor relating to the blowout.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a hearing about the incident on Wednesday, September 16, 2015. Chairman Barasso’s (R-Wy) announcement here.
Northern Arapaho Tribe Response to Wind River Reservation Termination Bill
Bad River Ojibwe Comments on EPA Environmental Justice Draft — Need More UNDRIP
EPA Initiating Public Comment on the Working Draft of the EPA Policy on Environmental Justice for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples: January 8 – February 15, 2013
The US EPA is seeking public comment on the Working Draft of the EPA Policy on Environmental Justice for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples. The Public Comment Period is from January 8 – February 15, 2013. A copy of the Working Draft and the Notification of Public Comment are attached. This information will also be made available on OEJ’s Website, http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/indigenous/index.html, and sent out on the EJ Listserv.
Policy-on-EJ-for-Tribes-and-Indigenous Peoples – Working Draft – Nov 142012
Public Comment Notification – Working Draft
Three national webinars have been scheduled to discuss the Policy: Continue reading
Moapa Band of Paiute Indians Appeals EPA Air Standard for Coal Plant to Ninth Circuit
EPA Record of Decision in MHA Nation Oil Refinery Project
Here.
Treaty Rights in Washington Threatened by Lack of Progress in Recovering Salmon
D.C. Circuit Affirms EPA Regulations on Greenhouse Gases
Here is today’s opinion in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA:
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