Tribal Waste and Response Assistance Program

National Tribal Steering Committee

Meeting Notes

May 7-8, 2013

Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico

Important Upcoming Dates

  • August 19-22, 2013: Tribal Lands Form, tentatively scheduled at the Pueblo of Santa Ana's Tamaya Resort in New Mexico

Steering Committee Members:

1

Dino Chavarria, Chair

Victoria Flowers

Victoria Kotongan

Katie Kruse, Vice-Chair

Virginia LeClere

Tom McClure

Peter Reuben

Rob Roy

Elliott Talgo

Danny Joe Stensgar

1

EPA Staff (by phone)ITEP Staff

Marsha MinterMehrdad Khatibi

Janice SimsTodd Barnell

Jeffrey KohnJohn Mead

Tuesday, May 7

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 am

  • Elliott Talgo provided the invocation.
  • Roll call was taken - All ten members present.

Discussion Between OSWER staff the TWRAP Steering Committee

  • Discussion: Marsha Minter, Jeffrey Kohn, and Janice Sims from OSWER called in and answered questions from the steering committee members regarding the future of the steering committee and other activities associated with the Tribal Waste and Assistance Program (TWRAP) given the current five-year cooperative agreement will end on October 31, 2013. Marsha Minter stressed that OSWER is fully supportive of continuing the steering committee, the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum, and other activities conducted under TWRAP. However, given the budget uncertainty in Washington DC, OSWER is unable to state with any certainty when the new RFP will be made public or when the start date will be for the continuation of the program.
  • Action Item: Dino Chavarria, the committee chair, and Katie Kruse, the committee vice-chair, will schedule a conference call with Marsha Minter, and other OSWER staff, for early June, anticipating by that time more information will be available regarding the budget.

Steering Committee Information Exchange

  • Peter Reuben has spoken with all the tribes in USEPA Region 2, which include those tribes receiving funds from the federal government, as well as those choosing not to, about the upcoming forum. As part of his discussions, he asked what their priorities were on breakout sessions and trainings at the forum. Issues involving solid waste management, environmental response planning, and Brownfields were their top priorities. Several tribal representatives specifically mentioned that they found it very helpful that they can access materials from past forums on the ITEP website. Many tribes in New York do not accept money from the federal government and therefore have minimal funds for travels. Having the ability to access forum materials on the web, or if possible participating in the forum via conference call or webinar, are therefore extremely important to them. He also mentioned that the ongoing budget issues in federal agencies are causing problems for tribes in Region 2. For example, the joint EPA/Indian Nation's Leaders meeting scheduled for June has been postponed to later in the year due to budget constraints.
  • Rob Roy was not able to attend the April USEPA Region 9 RTOC meeting. He will be attending the July meeting and will discuss the upcoming forum with the attendees. He reported on the member tribes of Native American Environmental Protection Coalition (NAEPC) and their activities involving a potential collaboration on UST issues. At recent NAEPC meetings he has heard numerous concerns expressed about the potential changes in the General Assistance Program (GAP) - specifically in regards to affects on funding solid waste cleanup activities, and the role played by IHS in supporting cleanup work, which varies around the country. He has also been reaching out to tribes in his area on Brownfields issues, as well as networking with the USEPA Region 9 staff member overseeing Brownfields assessments. He also informed the committee that he has completed his tribe's ISWMP and submitted it to USEPA.
  • Danny Joe Stensgar informed the committee that his tribe is submitting a proposal for a breakout session at the upcoming forum focused on illegal dumping and their enforcement activities. He also mentioned that the Tribal Solid Waste Advisory Network (TSWAN) is interested in submitting breakout session proposals as well, if there is any interest.
  • Victoria Kotongan attended the Alaskan Forum on the Environment and provided attendees with information on TWRAP and the upcoming forum. She has reached out to participants in the Local Environmental Observers (LEO) network and will present on this program during the forum. On a variety of regional conference calls she has spoken about the forum and solicited feedback from participants. A topic of particular concern for many involves the proposed changes to GAP. Victoria was also invited to speak at the 2013 Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference and Forum. In addition to presenting she also spoke with other attendees about the upcoming forum. People she spoke with were appreciative of the fact that more sessions on Alaskan situations are being developed for this year's forum.
  • Virginia LeClere spoke about how the ongoing budget situation has been affecting travel for tribes in her area, which has negatively affected their ability to attend needed training, especially in the area of solid waste management. She has reached out to USEPA Region 7 staff to see if training could be developed locally. Virginia has been reaching out to tribes in her region that have done exceptional work in the areas of Brownfields, USTs, and solid waste, encouraging them to submit proposals for the upcoming forum. She also mentioned that concerns about changes in GAP have been brought up at local meetings. She has been participating in recent Tribal P2 Working Group webinars on greening tribal casino operations and has encouraged them to submit a proposal for the forum.
  • Tom McClure provided information on a training he attended in New Orleans and recommended that ITEP reach out to one of the instructors as a possible presenter at the forum. He also spoke on his participation as an instructor for an ITEP course and recommended that, since these courses receive many more applications then can be accommodated that more of them be offered in the future. In conversations with federal and tribal staff involved in UST work, he has received several requests for some type of health and safety training at future forums. This training would be different from the HAZWOPER refresher training currently offered. He has also spoken about the forum on several conference calls and at meetings he has attended in the last four month, receiving a lot of interest and questions in return. Tom has also been working with ITEP staff, OSWER personnel, and other steering committee members on developing the UST track at the forum and appreciates the opportunity to be involved.
  • Katie Kruse has been assisting with the development of the Brownfields/TRP track for the forum. She also sat in the most recent Tribal Superfund Working Group call. During her outreach activities she has received several positive comments about the tours at past forums and people's hope that we continue offering these opportunities at future forums. She has also received requests from tribal professionals for a breakout session focused on changes to FEMA rules and tribal eligibility for financial assistance through this agency.
  • Victoria Flowers also participated in the recent Tribal Superfund Working Group call, and she too has had requests for information on FEMA. She suggested that ITEP see if there are any FEMA personnel who may be able to attend the forum this year. She and Katie both recently attended a tribal meeting of EPA Region 5 tribes and presented on the forum. She has received a good amount of feedback from other tribal professionals who are interested in learning more about mining related issues, as well as dealing with debris from natural disasters. Victoria also discussed a UST owner/operator training recently conducted by the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin. During this training the issue of biofuels was raised, which she hopes can be addressed at the forum.
  • Elliott Talgo recently attended a meeting of Arizona tribes and representatives from numerous federal agencies to discuss funding issues. He participated in several discussions with IHS staff regarding tribal enforcement of illegal dumping laws and the need for tribes to have current ISWMP in place in order to secure certain types of funding. He has been conducting outreach with many elected tribal officials, encouraging them to attend the forum as well as sending their environmental staff. There have been concerns raised by tribes in his area about UST training as well as courses focused on recycling. Mining has also become a growing concern for tribes in his region, which led to a general discussion on this topic by steering committee members. Elliott also spoke about how he has utilized the Environmental Finance Center Network to assist him in developing a marketing and business plan for his transfer station. Dominican University in California is his regional member of this network and they provided him with a great deal of professional assistance in crafting these plans.
  • Dino Chavarriarecently discussed the forum and the work of the steering committee at a recent Region 6 RTOC. Since the forum is being held in New Mexico this year he strongly encouraged the tribes to attend. He also reached out to the Tribal Science Council and encouraged them to submit a proposal for the forum. Due to a scheduling conflict he was not able to attend the last Tribal Superfund Working Group call so he thanked Katie and Victoria for participating. In his outreach activities he is encouraging tribes to use the forum to comment on proposed changes to GAP and IHS's funding of cleanup activities. This led to a general discussion among steering committee members about cleanup activities and the different approaches taken by IHS offices in various sections of the country. He also reported that OSWER staff has not met with their IHS counterparts yet, as agreed to at the last steering committee meeting in Washington DC. OSWER personnel calling in to this meeting said they would look into this and report back to the committee. He also discussed the Pueblo of Santa Clara's work on putting an emergency response plan in place.

Updates on the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum

  • Presentation: Todd Barnell and John Mead gave a brief overview of work being conducted on the upcoming forum. Registrations are nearing 100 with 30 from Region 6, 15 from Region 8, 11 from Region 9 and 17 from Region 10 (including Alaska). The rest are coming from the Midwestern and Eastern regions of the country. John Mead also talked about the search for vendors/exhibitors, which led to a discussion with the steering committee on increasing the number of companies coming to the forum as exhibitors. A new forum flier has been produced and was distributed to the committee members for their use in outreach activities. Todd Barnell gave a brief overview on the proposals submitted so far and asked the committee to prepare any questions on them for a discussion later at the meeting.
  • Action Item: ITEP will email the committee the new forum flier so they have an electronic copy of it for distribution.

Meeting with Tamaya Staff and Tour of the Facilities

  • Presentation:Marjorie McLay, Convention Services Manager for the Tamaya, met with the steering committee and took them on a tour of the premises. ITEP and committee members discussed the flow of the forum and the role of convention staff, as well as seeing the rooms that will be used for sessions and opportunities for recreation following business during the forum.
  • Action Item: ITEP will contact the Pueblo of Santa Domingo to see if they can provide a color guard during the forum's opening session.
  • Action Item: The staff at the Tamaya will be providing menus, business services, and information on the local area to be displayed on the ITEP registration table during the forum.

Tribal Lands and Environment Forum Planning and Discussion

  • Presentation: Chris Dillon, Facilities Manager at the Tamaya, provided the steering committee with information on the green initiatives undertaken by the facility.
  • Presentation: Todd Barnell went over the majority of proposals submitted and asked the steering committee for their thoughts on them. He also went over plans for the two plenary sessions, one on Tuesday which would officially open the forum and one on Wednesday that would feature a panel discussing the issue of climate change and its effects on tribal operations.
  • Discussion: The steering committee encouraged the acceptance of the proposal for training on soil and groundwater pollution as well as several other session proposals. Ideas for additional trainings included operator safety, ordinance development, understanding complex federal programs like RCRA and Superfund, land/sovereignty issues, and conducting waste characterizations. Committee members also provided extremely helpful suggestions to the hazardous substance training being developed by ITEP. Committee members also discussed the climate change panel plenary session on Wednesday morning. This panel will feature a federal scientist and two tribal professionals. Initially the plan was to have Sue Wotkyns, the ITEP Climate Change Program Manager, act as the moderator for this plenary. A suggestion was made that Jennifer Brady, the climate change lead for OSWER, could also serve as the moderator. The committee agreed that having Ms. Brady involved in the forum would be beneficial although they were divided on having an EPA representative acting as moderator of this session. The issue of media-specific meetings at the forum was also discussed. The idea of having all media-specific meetings taking place at the same time, in order to prevent potential conflicts with other breakout sessions that may be of interest, was advanced as a possible solution to this conflict.
  • Action Item: OSWER will provide ITEP with Jennifer Brady's contact information so ideas for her involvement at the forum can be discussed.
  • Action Item: Todd Barnell will work with OSWER offices and schedule all media-specific meetings at the same time in an effort to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Discussion on the TWRAP Steering Committee Charter

  • Discussion: The steering committee discussed two sections of the current charter, written and approved in 2010. The sections were 3.01 (Membership) and 8.01 (Amendments). When the charter was first written the steering committee had decided that only employees of federally-recognized tribes, working in environmental fields, would be eligible to apply for the steering committee. This was explicitly included all application materials, but the current language in the charter could be seen as ambiguous. The steering committee discussed the pros and cons of this membership requirement. Committee members also discussed the section of the charter dealing with the process of making amendments to the charter and decided that the language could be made simpler and more concise.
  • Result: Katie Kruse made the following motion: "The TWRAP steering committee charter language on eligibility, section 3.01, be amended to explicitly state that only employees of federally-recognized tribes engaged in environmental quality work be eligible to serve on the committee." The motion was seconded by Elliott Talgo and Danny Joe Stensgar and passed unanimously.
  • Result: Kate Kruse made the following motion: "The TWRAP steering committee charter language on amendments, section 8.01, be amended to state that amendments to the charter may be made at any scheduled meeting of the steering committee where a quorum is present." The motion was seconded by Rob Roy and passed unanimously.
  • Action Item: Todd Barnell will write up the steering committee's proposed new language and present it tomorrow morning for committee approval.

Future Activities of the TWRAP Steering Committee

  • Discussion: The steering committee discussed the fact that this current cooperative agreement between OSWER and ITEP, which supports committee activities, the annual forum, training, and technical assistance, will conclude on October 31 of this year. Given the current situation with the federal budget there is a great deal of uncertainty on how the activities currently be conducted will be affected. The steering committee expressed their desire to see the work of the committee continue and their concern that this committee could experience the problems faced by other national tribal committees in the past that lost federal support. The committee also expressed their concern that five new members would be selected this summer to serve on the committee, with the starting date of November 1, 2013. Yet at this time it is unclear whether this project will have been funded by that time. OSWER staff updated the committee members on the current budget situation and expressed their desire to see this project continue. With the agreement of the steering committee, ITEP staff stated they would continue the current application process for the steering committee and will conduct necessary work for planning of the 2014 Tribal Lands and Environment Forum so that there is no lag time in the planning process. As discussed earlier in the meeting, the steering committee officers will remain in communication with Marsha Minter about the future of this project and plan on having a conference call with her and her staff in early June of this year.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm