EPA to hold LdF listening session Feb. 15

By: Patti Wenzel

The Environmental Protection Agency will hold an information session on the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s application for “treatment as a state” at the Lac du Flambeau Public School, Wednesday, Feb. 15, beginning at 7 p.m.

The session was scheduled after a request was made by numerous state elected officials, including Rep. Mark Green (R-Green Bay).

“A lot of folks could be impacted by this proposal, and it’s essential that each and every one of them has an opportunity to hear more about it,” Green said in a press release Friday. “In addition, the EPA needs to know precisely how this request will affect our area, and the only way they can get that information is by listening to the residents, business owners and officials who live and work in northern Wisconsin.”

Environmentalists lend support

Meanwhile, state conservation and environmental groups are squaring off against Lac du Flambeau area property owners over the issue.

On Jan. 31, eight groups saying they represent “thousands of Wisconsinites” lent their support for the tribe’s application to eventually set quality standards for water on and running through the reservation.

The groups – Midwest Environmental Advocates, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Association of Lakes, Wisconsin Wetlands Association, Anishinaabe Niijii Protect the Earth, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter, Clean Wisconsin and Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger – delivered a signed letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of the tribe.

“The law clearly gives (Indian) tribes the right to be treated like states to implement the Clean Water Act and to protect their tribal waters,” Melissa Scanlan, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates said. “This is about allowing the tribes to have the same health protections and water quality that non-native people in Wisconsin already enjoy.”

Denny Caneff, executive director of River Alliance of Wisconsin, said there currently are no federally-enforceable water quality standards to protect the 260 lakes, 15,600 acres of water, 71 miles of creeks, rivers and streams and the 24,000 acres of wetlands on the Lac du Flambeau reservation.

“The tribe’s ability to create water quality standards for waters on the reservation is critical to their ability to maintain the clean water necessary to sustain a culture intimately connected to the water, a sport fish industry, and a safe place to swim, boat and enjoy the great outdoors,” Caneff said.

Residents raise objections

But property owners in Lac du Flambeau are skeptical the tribe will enact the same standards already in place throughout the state.

Michael Hansen, who, along with other family members, owns property on Little Crawling Stone Lake in Lac du Flambeau, has organized his neighbors in opposition to the tribe’s plans.

The group has hired Madison attorney Paul Kent to prepare a brief against the Lac du Flambeau’s application. Kent had represented the Town of Hobart (near Green Bay) in the 1990s when the Oneida, Potawatomi and Lac du Flambeau tribes first received the “state” classification from the EPA.

That status was rescinded or returned by the tribes after fraudulent information was discovered on one of the tribes’ applications and an EPA official was convicted of lying to a grand jury.

“As property owners we feel the (water quality) standards should not be different from the rest of the state,” Hansen said. “Equal protection under the law is guaranteed in the constitution and I should have the same rights in Lac du Flambeau as the property owner has in Racine or Waukesha.”

Hansen added that having the tribe control water quality for non-Native users is a violation of his right of representation.

“Right now I have voting control over the (Wisconsin) DNR,” he said. “But I have no voting rights with the tribe because I am not a member.”

The group led by Hansen has raised more than $3,000 to retain Kent, who wouldn’t address specific issues in the Lac du Flambeau application.

Kent said there are certain constitutional issues, such as equal protection, that could be argued if the application is approved.

The legality of a tribe’s ability to set its own water quality standards, as ruled by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, is also open for discussion, according to Kent.

“There are major differences between the situations faced by the Sokaogon Chippewa Community (Mole Lake) tribe and the Lac du Flambeau that leave open a number of areas in that decision,” Kent said.

In its decision, the Appellate court upheld the tribe’s right to enact strict water standards, even if they affect non-Natives off-reservation. By a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel said the tribe “demonstrated that its water resources are essential to its survival” and should be allowed to develop its own programs.

Kent and Sokaogon Chippewa Community Vice-Chairperson Tina Van Zile said the Mole Lake reservation has no non-Native residents within its borders. The Lac du Flambeau reservation is home to a substantial number of non-Native residents and property owners.

In addition to the constitutional questions, the Lac du Flambeau property owners list the potential of lost property value and their payment of taxes to the state for regulatory services through the DNR as other reasons to deny the tribe’s application.

In a letter to the EPA, the owners ask that the public comment period be extended by 12 months; that the EPA survey all lake property owners to determine their support or opposition to the application; that six public hearings be held in Lac du Flambeau; and that the EPA guarantee their property values and provide assurances that the tribe’s standards will not be more restrictive than federal or state regulations.

The property owners are also seeking an EPA impact study that would fully disclose the tribe’s motivations, past history of water control, the risks and impact on property owners and “any other pertinent information that any reasonable person would want to understand the issue.”

The letter requests the study findings be delivered to all property owners by certified mail to both their Lac du Flambeau area and any other address listed.

Residents who are unable to attend the listening session can comment via mail, phone or e-mail until Feb. 21. Comments can be sent to Todd Ambs, Wisconsin DNR, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, 53707-7921, by phone (608)264-6278 or by email, todd.ambs@dnr.state.wi.us.

Published: February 07, 2006