The Region 10 Tribal Operations Committee Consortium (doing business as WOIA) is seeking a personable and driven individual to become the organization’s next Executive Director. WOIA is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit organization formed in 2021 and established in the State of Washington. The RTOC serves Tribes primarily by administering the grants for the EPA Region 10 Tribal Operations Committee (RTOC) and the annual EPA Region 10 Tribal Environmental Leaders Summit (TELS).

• Apply

Pathways to Science compiles research and funding opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Some of these opportunities are in federal agencies, including EPA.

• Paid Summer 2025 Undergraduate Research Placements
• Fellowships and graduate programs
• Tips on applying and associated resources
• Opportunities specifically in the Ocean Sciences
• Opportunities specifically in Engineering

The New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) is hosting the next National Tanks Conference in Spokane, WA, Sept. 22-25, 2025. The event brings together hundreds of UST/LUST professionals, including tank inspectors; cleanup specialists; state, Tribal, and territorial employees; federal regulators; and industry representatives. The call for abstracts is now open for traditional presentations, panel discussions, posters, and workshops. 

• Submit an abstract 

EPA’s Tribal Water & Natural Resources Conservation Guide aims to provide resources to Tribal environmental programs about federal assistance opportunities that can support Tribally led efforts to protect and restore waters, protect air quality, protect wildlife and habitat, prepare for climate change and natural hazards, steward lands and support and engage Tribal communities. Sections include:

• An introduction to federal assistance for new Tribal staff
• Quick reference tables highlighting Tribal-specific funding and technical assistance programs
• 10+ Tribal case studies highlighting how Tribal programs have completed conservation projects with federal assistance
• Examples of federal planning frameworks and tools

The web page also includes a federal funding program inventory as a downloadable Excel Workbook that contains basic information about 150+ federal funding programs that can support Tribal conservation work.

EPA added the Upper Columbia River Site in northeast Washington to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), the list of sites throughout the United States and its territories where historic releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants pose significant threats to human health and the environment. EPA has determined that soils within the Upper Columbia site are contaminated with lead and arsenic and pose an unacceptable risk to residents at affected properties, particularly to children and women of childbearing age. Additionally, sediments in the river are contaminated with metals, including zinc, copper, cadmium, selenium, lead and mercury, that pose a risk to fish, wildlife, birds, and other organisms that live in and along the river. NPL listing is needed to ensure completion of cleanup of both upland and aquatic portions of the site, including making federal funds available, if needed.

• Read the press release.

As we enter the new year, the Info Box thought it might be helpful for readers to have the grant reporting deadlines all in one place.  

* If an applicant requests a change from quarterly reporting, the Project Officer will consider whether less frequent reporting is warranted based on whether the applicant: 1) has an established, on-going grant relationship with EPA; 2) a satisfactory record of financial and programmatic performance, including meeting programmatic goals and objectives in a timely, cost-effective manner; 3) adequate managerial capacity; and 4) has not had specific conditions applied to their assistance agreements as described in 2 CFR 200.207.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) are seeking contractors to work on a multi-media outreach project and a climate analyses project to accompany the report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. One RFP is for a multi-media outreach project; one is for coastal Tribal climatic impacts analyses. The RFPs will be open until the positions are filled.

• Apply

Join the Environmental Law Institute in person or on the web to hear what lies ahead for environmental law in the coming year. The conference, designed for attorneys, will explore the potential impacts of a new administration and Congress on future environmental regulation and legislation.

• Register

The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) will host its winter convention in Portland, OR. ATNI conventions are a place to gather, learn, develop policy positions, and share knowledge. Early bird registration ends Jan. 13.  

• Register

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has released Guideline 44, “Protecting Building Occupants from Smoke During Wildfire and Prescribed Burn Events.” It is the first guideline of its kind to provide recommendations to help building owners and managers prepare for and respond to smoke.

• Order ASHRAE Guideline 44. Note there is a cost.

First published in 2019, Alaska’s Changing Environment, published by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, highlights environmental changes and extremes that impact Alaskans lives and livelihoods. All regions of the state have been impacted, from landslides in Southeast and typhoon Merbok along the Bering Sea to long-term erosion and permafrost thaw in northwest Alaska. The 2024 report updates key long-term climate trends and highlights changes and impacts that have emerged or accelerated in recent years.

EPA’s report, Climate Change Considerations When Prioritizing, Developing, and Implementing Total Maximum Daily Loads, provides examples and a selection of approaches for incorporating climate change considerations into Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) processes that can be used individually or in combination, depending on each TMDL’s circumstances.

EPA has announced the three Alaska Native organizations that will receive more than $3.8 million in grant funding to assess and clean up legacy contamination on lands conveyed through the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). These grants are part of more than $47 million in funding that EPA received in the past two years to assess and clean up contaminated sites on ANCSA conveyed lands.

• The Aleut Corporation will permanently cover an asbestos landfill created when weather destroyed a former Naval Public Works building near the town of Adak.
• The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council will remove contaminated soils and timbers from a former pumphouse and barge landing owned by the Alaska Railroad at the Tanana Community Hall, in Tanana, Alaska. 
• The Alaska Native Village Corporation Association will help advocate for Alaska Native Village Corporations and Alaska Native Tribal entities to get support, assistance, and resources to address and clean up legacy contamination on ANCSA conveyed lands.
  
  • To learn more about how you can apply for funding and to discuss potential assessment and cleanup plans with EPA and ADEC, visit EPA’s ANCSA program website. 
  • Read the press release.

Here’s some good news to fuel your day: EPA’s FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan included a new strategic goal focused on addressing climate change and an unprecedented goal to advance environmental justice and civil rights and we’ve made a lot of progress in FY24! Acting Deputy Administrator, Jane Nishida, recently shared a few highlights. EPA:

• Worked with our partners to build resilience in over 900 communities, including Tribes, to help them adapt to the impacts of a changing climate, reengaged with the international community and secured climate commitments in 29 new countries.
• Integrated environmental justice considerations and strengthened civil rights compliance in every EPA program and region’s planning, guidance, policy directives, monitoring and review activities. Now, more than 70% of agency actions with environmental justice implications (rules determined to be significant under EO 12866 as amended by EO 14094) have been addressed helping to reduce a disproportionate impact on many communities across the country.
• Funded in FY 2024 the replacement of over 89,000 lead service lines in drinking water systems across the United States.
• Cleaned up over 150 Superfund sites with lead as a contaminant, restored more than 500 brownfields properties so that they are ready for reuse and cleaned up over 19,000 leaking underground storage tanks.
• Continued implementation of the hydrofluorocarbon allowance allocation program under the AIM Act to phase down U.S. production and consumption of HFCs by 85% by 2036, which is estimated to cumulatively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4,600 MMTCO2e between 2022 and 2050.
• Trained over 15,000 farmworkers in pesticide safety and implemented processes to ensure that 98% of risk assessments for new pesticides consider impacts on federally threatened and endangered species.

Man, does EPA have resources! If you are looking for ideas to include in your GAP work plan for FY26 or beyond, take a gander at the following:

• EPA’s GAP Technical Assistance Handbook: The handbook provides a roadmap of activities that may be useful to Tribes and intertribal consortia in developing environmental programs. Topics include:
  
  • Building core environmental programs
  • Ambient and Indoor Air Quality programs
  • Water Quality Programs
  • Drinking water
  • Solid waste, hazardous waste, and underground storage tanks
  • Contaminated side remediation and emergency response
  • Chemical safety and pollution prevention
     
• GAP Capacity Indicators: GAP capacity indicators are milestones along a Tribe’s environmental program development path. If you updated your ETEP recently, do doubt you’ve seen them. The indicators don’t provide a comprehensive plan, but they are good food for thought for activities on the following topics:
  
  • Cross-Cutting Activities
  • Clean Air Act
  • Clean Water Act
  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
  • Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
  • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
     
• Optional Work Plan Templates for GAP Topics: See the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s Capacity and Training page for work plan templates that provide ideas on activities your GAP program might undertake. If you like them, tailor them to your program as you see fit. Click on the IGAP tab and scroll down to Work Plans.
  
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • Air
  • Climate Change
  • Shoreline Erosion
  • Environmental Education
  • Solid Waste
  • ANCSA Contamination (coming soon)
     
• Work Plans, Budgets, and Forms: If you’d just like to find the optional GAP work plan and budget templates and a link to the (non-optional) forms, head to the Administrative Resources section on our Region 10 GAP webpage.

The Salmon Recovery Conference in Yakima, WA, will include discussion of innovations being used in partnerships, projects, coordination, community involvement, and funding to integrate salmon recovery with other interests while reflecting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Registration opens January 6, 2025.

The Alaska Forum on the Environment has released a draft agenda. Participants can register to attend in-person or virtually.

• Review the agenda
• Register 

Grants.gov conducts routine system maintenance on the third weekend of every month. The table below lists the next two anticipated dates the system will be down. One of these is Jan. 18-20. Note that GAP, 106, and 319 applications are due January 21. If you need to enter your application into Grants.gov, please plan accordingly!

• Learn more

Check out EPA Region 10’s recently updated Tribal Solid Waste and Sustainable Materials Management page, which now includes a section on Environmental Justice and Solid Waste, information on organics and composting, the latest EPA contacts, and a whole lot more.