(Chicago,
Ill. - April 14, 2008 ) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5
has granted authority to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians to run its own water quality standards program on its
Wisconsin reservation. This authority is for the standards programs
only. The tribe will have to submit the actual water quality standards
developed to EPA for another round of review and approval.
(Media-Newswire.com) - (
Chicago, Ill. - April 14, 2008 ) U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Region 5 has granted authority to the Lac du Flambeau Band of
Lake Superior Chippewa Indians to run its own water quality standards
program on its Wisconsin reservation. This authority is for the
standards programs only. The tribe will have to submit the actual water
quality standards developed to EPA for another round of review and
approval.
The Clean Water Act allows tribes to run their own
water programs in a manner similar to states. Currently, EPA is
responsible for carrying out provisions of the Clean Water Act on the
reservation. In 2005, the Lac du Flambeau tribe applied to EPA for
authority to establish its own water quality standards for surface
water within its reservation. The reservation contains many lakes and
water resources that support a variety of uses, including drinking
water, fishing, boating and rice growing.
Forty tribes across
the country have been authorized to run their own water programs
including three other tribes in the Great Lakes region - the Mole Lake
Band of Sokaogon Chippewa in Wisconsin, and the Fond du Lac Band of
Chippewa and Grand Portage Band of Chippewa in Minnesota.
More
information about this decision and EPA's responses to comments
received from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the
public are available on http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/wqs5/wqstribes.htm
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