RTOC received the following email regarding the US EPA Consultation Plan and Response to Comment. Please see the attachments linked at the end. (email below revised on 5/4/21)
Colleagues,
Attached and summarized below are final documents created in response to President Biden’s January 26, 2021 memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation to Nation Relationships, which directed all federal agencies to consult with tribes and submit a plan by April 26, 2021. Please share the EPA Plan and Response to Comment with tribes within your region or with your tribal partnership group, as appropriate. Note that AIEO has already sent these documents directly to each entity that submitted written comments during consultation:
- US EPA Plan for Implementing the Policies and Directives of Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments
- This is the version of the Plan that was sent to OMB by Jane Nishida on behalf of Administrator Regan on Friday, April 23. It is labeled ‘draft’ since OMB said they may come back to agencies with comments in the future, though it is fine for distribution now.
- The document changed little from the version that was shared with your management for review. The two commitments are still (1) EPA will form an internal workgroup among the TCAs to review our consultation practices in depth, guided by the tribal consultation comments, and (2) EPA will have enhanced consultation training for the TCAs.
- A “Priority action” in the document is that the EPA workgroup will “recommend uniform criteria and practices across the Agency for identifying appropriate senior EPA officials to attend tribal consultation meetings.”
- Response to Comments document
- This describes the process EPA used to receive comments and summarizes in depth the comments received.
- The RtC states that since EPA received 29 letters and hundreds of suggestions, we were unable to make final determinations on changing our policies within the tight timeframe we had. It notes we will consider all comments received internally via the workgroup.
Other items:
- In late May, AIEO will host two identical informational calls / listening sessions to summarize the EPA Plan and to hear any comments or questions from tribes. This follow-up will show that EPA is committed to continuing engagement with tribes on our consultation practices. Dates TBD at this point, we’ll let you know as soon as they are scheduled.
- Discussion of the Consultation Plan and next steps will be on next Thursday’s TPM agenda.
Thank you for your support during this time! Please let me know if you have any questions, looking forward to the discussion on next week’s TPM.
Have a great weekend.
Andy Byrne
Senior Advisor, Policy & Partnerships Team
American Indian Environmental Office
Office of International and Tribal Affairs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Attachments:
EPA Plan to Implement EO 13175 (draft)
Response to Comment – EPA Plan on Consultation (final)
Recent Comments