EPA has released a new implementation memorandum aimed at improving transparency, clarity, and efficiency in the agency’s review of Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Clean Air Act Section 309.

The memorandum provides guidance for how EPA develops and submits comment letters on environmental reviews conducted by other federal agencies, including reviews associated with federal permitting decisions.

According to EPA, the updated approach is intended to:

• Promote common-sense and transparent environmental reviews.
• Clarify EPA’s advisory role in the NEPA process.
• Reinforce that EPA is not the lead agency or final decisionmaker for many federal projects.
• Support more efficient federal permitting and interagency coordination.

EPA’s comment letters provide environmental analysis and recommendations that become part of the public record and may inform federal agency decisions on proposed projects.

Read the Memo | More on NEPA

EPA has announced it will waive application and credit processing fees for small communities applying for Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans during Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027.

The fee waivers are intended to reduce barriers for small and rural communities seeking funding for drinking water, wastewater, and other water infrastructure projects.

Under this announcement:

• Communities with populations of 25,000 or fewer will have the $25,000 WIFIA application fee waived.
• EPA will also waive the Credit Processing Fee, which currently averages approximately $156,000 per loan, subject to program requirements and available funding.

Together, these fee waivers could save eligible communities nearly $200,000 when applying for a WIFIA loan.

The WIFIA program currently has approximately $11 billion in available financing and can fund up to 80 percent of project costs for eligible projects. EPA is currently accepting Letters of Interest.

WIFIA provides long-term, low-cost financing to support significant water infrastructure investments, helping communities improve drinking water and wastewater systems while supporting public health and economic development.

Learn more about the WIFIA program and how to submit a Letter of Interest.

EPA has announced more than $227 million in Fiscal Year 2026 funding to help American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages improve drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and protect public health and the environment.

The funding will support projects that increase access to safe and reliable drinking water, improve wastewater systems, and help communities address emerging contaminants such as lead and PFAS.

FY 2026 funding includes:

• $71 million for the Clean Water Indian Set-Aside (CWISA) Program, including $4.5 million for emerging contaminants.
• $134 million for Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants (DWIG-TSA).
• $19 million through the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Tribal Grant Program.
• $3 million through the Small, Rural, and Tribal (SmaRT) Drinking Water Assistance Grant Program.

These resources can support planning, design, construction, infrastructure upgrades, operator training, and other activities that strengthen Tribal water systems and improve community health outcomes.

Learn More:

• EPA Tribal Water Program
• EPA Tribal Drinking Water Funding Programs
• Clean Water Indian Set-Aside Program
• Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF)
• Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)
• Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC)
• Small, Rural, and Tribal (SmaRT) Drinking Water Assistance Program

The National Tribal Water Council (NTWC) is currently accepting applications for two council vacancies:

At-Large Representative

Open to Tribal water professionals employed by a federally recognized Tribe or Tribally authorized organization in EPA Regions 1–10.

Alaska Representative

Open to Tribal water professionals employed by an Alaska Native Tribe or Tribally authorized organization in Alaska.

The NTWC serves as a technical and scientific body that advocates for the interests of federally recognized Tribes on national water quality and water resource issues. Tribal professionals with experience in the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, drinking water, wastewater, water infrastructure, and operations and maintenance are encouraged to apply.

Learn more and access the application packet: https://itep.nau.edu/ntwc/

Questions? Contact Elaine Wilson at Elaine.Wilson@nau.edu.

Tribal environmental professionals looking to strengthen program management, environmental capacity, and technical skills can access a variety of free training opportunities through EPA’s GAP Academy.

The GAP Academy provides self-paced and instructor-led training designed to support Tribal environmental programs funded through the General Assistance Program (GAP). Training topics include environmental program development, capacity building, grants management, strategic planning, community engagement, and other tools to help Tribes build and sustain environmental programs.

The GAP Academy’s Building Environmental Capacity training series offers resources for both new and experienced environmental staff working to develop and strengthen Tribal environmental programs.

Explore available courses and training resources. 

These resources are available at no cost and can help Tribal environmental staff build skills, strengthen programs, and support long-term environmental capacity development.

This guide is designed to help Tribal leadership and staff decide how to seek federal disaster assistance after a disaster. It includes an introduction to the disaster declaration process, the three types of declarations available to Tribal Nations, and the administrative and financial obligations associated with each. This guide does not cover: emergency declarations; Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAG) or Tribal emergency management.

This document was prepared by the Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program (EELP) in partnership with the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative’s Tribal Coastal Resilience Project. This document incorporates feedback from Tribal leaders and staff who participated in virtual and in-person workshops. For a copy of the guide click here.

NIDIS is an integrated information system that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information and federal, tribal, state and local levels across the country. NIDIS’s mission is to improve the nation’s capacity to proactively manage drought-related risks by providing those affected with the best available information and resources to assess the potential for drought and to better prepare for, mitigate, and respond to the effect of drought.

The April 9, 2026 Snow Drought Status Update indicates historically low snowpack melts across the West, signaling a dire water supply situation.

EPA has updated its Guidance Portal, a public website that provides access to guidance on topics like air quality, water protection, and hazardous waste.

The updated portal includes a more user-friendly search tool, allowing users to quickly find relevant documents from a collection by using keywords and filters.

These improvements are intended to make it easier for the public to understand EPA guidance and how it applies in different situations, without needing outside assistance. The update reflects work across multiple EPA offices to review and organize existing materials into a single, accessible resource.

To ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem with the site Contact EPA.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Resources Webpage provides a wide range of solid waste resources. Here are a few of note:

• DEC’s Waste Index: DEC uses the Waste Index to score landfill sites when they do inspections. This Excel spreadsheet may provide you with some great ideas to improve the landfill in your community. Click on the link, then scroll down to Landfill Operator Tools.
   
• Solid Waste Integrated Management System (SWIMS) Database: SWIMS contains information on landfills, solid waste treatment facilities, and solid waste storage facilities in Alaska. Here’s where you’ll find your latest inspection report, which will tell you exactly what DEC thinks you need to do to raise your landfill inspection score!Find your community, then click on these tabs to learn a whole lot more: 

• Rural Landfill Specialists: If your community has a Class III landfill, visit the list to find the Rural Landfill Specialist assigned to your community. Questions about solid waste? They know all.

EPA’s Superfund and Brownfields programs have assembled resources to help interested parties assess the viability of Superfund site properties and brownfield sites for redevelopment as possible locations for Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers or other facilities related to AI infrastructure or development. 

A reminder that the Tribal Superfund Working Group Quarterly Meeting will discuss this topic on Feb. 26: 

• Join the Zoom meeting at 10:00 Pacific.

Need assistance uploading water quality data? EPA’s WQX Helpdesk can answer your questions about data submission and retrieval. If you have a basic question, the fastest way to get an answer is to chat via email WQX Helpdesk (wqx@epa.gov). You may also request an appointment by emailing wqx@epa.gov or calling the WQX Helpdesk 1-800-424-9067. (No appointment is needed for allowable domain values, services, or questions).

• Learn more

The American West is experiencing increasing drought, which affects water resources and fish. Check out Drought.gov’s Tribal Nations webpage for U.S. drought maps with reservation boundaries, studies on resilience planning, and more.

The National Center for Disaster Preparedness has developed an array of tools and resources to help communities prepare for and respond to disasters. Just two examples: the US Natural Hazards Index and the presentation, “How to Survive a Disaster in 5 Easy Action Steps.”

This handbook provides an overview of natural hazards in Alaska, from tsunamis to volcanic eruptions. It covers potential impacts to communities and homeowners, best practices for preparing your home and surrounding area, how to prepare for an evacuation event, and what to expect when you return home.

• Download the handbook

EPA hosted a webinar on how to apply for a competitive grant on December 17. The webinar presentation and helpful links are now available on the Competition Process Webinar webpage. The recording should be posted soon. 

Find recordings and materials for other EPA Grants Webinars under Past Webinars.

The Federal Government is shut down again, placing Indian Country in jeopardy as trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations go unpaid. Even with advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service, most other Tribal programs will be severely impacted, including wrap-around health care services provided through federal awards outside of IHS that save Native lives.

Indian Country needs your stories to help bring the shutdown data and numbers to life. Tribal programs represent more than faceless bureaucrats carrying out programs handed down by Washington. Congress has been shown the data for years, and we know that bringing the data to life makes a difference.

Click here to fill out the survey.  

Click here for government shutdown resources.

On December 23, EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights released the agency’s Environmental Justice Strategic Plan. The plan lays out three goals for agency:

1. Promote environmental justice and civil rights at the federal, Tribal, state, local, and community levels
2. Embed environmental justice and external civil rights into EPA’s programs, policies, and activities
3. Strengthen external civil rights enforcement to protect access to a healthy environment for all people

n its FY2022-2026 Strategic Plan, EPA committed to assembling a set of indicators of disparities in environmental and public health conditions relevant to the agency’s work, consistent with the broader effort to advance environmental justice. EPA has now released the pilot Indicators of Environmental Health Disparities. The six indicators include:   

• Blood Lead Levels 
• Population in Monitored Counties Meeting PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
• Age-adjusted Hypertension 
• Adverse Birth Outcomes 
• Childhood Asthma Prevalence 
• Life Expectancy  

Each indicator represents an environmental health concern or potential health impact that is shaped by a wide range of factors. EPA is working to help mitigate environmental contributions to these health outcomes and disparities, in alignment with its mission to protect human health and the environment.