Tribal Initiatives

The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response has several ongoing initiatives which include:

Planning an OSWER Tribal Forum meeting for November 2008. OSWER is planning a tribal forum meeting in which tribes and EPA managers can discuss implementation of the OSWER tribal strategy. OSWER is considering holding a forum to increase shared understanding between EPA and federally recognized tribes regarding environmental conditions on Indian lands and EPA/OSWER program activities to help protect human health and the environment in Indian country. EPA hopes that this forum will promote capacity building of federally recognized tribes, strengthen working relationships between EPA and federally recognized tribes and networking among tribes, increase insight about opportunities for cross-program integration, and focus agreement on action items to begin implmementing the OSWER tribal strategy.

OSWER held a meeting with tribes to begin discussions and planning for the proposed forum on June 23, 2008 at the National Tribal Conference on Environmental Management in Billings, MT. View the Summary of OSWER tribal forum planning meeting in Billings (PDF) (7pp, 169K, About PDF)

Complete an OSWER Tribal Strategy. OSWER is completing a tribal strategy which will be a unifying document that showcases OSWER program strategic tribal priorities, supporting activities, program measures and indicators, training approaches and cross-program integration opportunities, and ties them to the EPA Strategic Plan and OSWER's National Program Guidance.
Support the participation of tribal co-regulators in a new national tribal framework. OSWER is providing a cooperative agreement to provide training, technical assistance, research and studies that will support the participation of tribal co-regulators in the formulation and implantation of federal/tribal policies for OSWER-related tribal programs. These activities, conducted through a tribal co-regulator framework, will facilitate national dialogue and information exchange among tribes, and between tribes and EPA, on land preservation, restoration, and cleanup issues in Indian country.