Abstract |
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for administering Federal environmental statutes on all U.S. land. Tribal National governments play an important role in the design and administration of tribal programs to ensure clean water, air quality, proper waste management, and safe management of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. To help Tribes build capacity and administer environmental programs, EPA provides guidance and technical support, and issues grants, to federally recognized Tribal governments and intertribal consortia. The states of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa comprise EPA Region 7 and are home to nine tribal nations (see Appendix A for a full list of the tribes). EPA currently awards cooperative agreements (hereafter referred to as grants) to seven of the nine tribes. Tribes use these grants as one source of funding to acquire the skills and capacity to develop, manage and implement environmental programs. The grants include the General Assistance Program (GAP), designed to enhance tribal capacity as well as to help with implementation of media-specific tribal grants. Media-specific grants include the Clean Air Act (CAA) 103, the Clean Water Act (CWA) 106, and the Brownfield Response Program under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA 128(a)), funding to implement the pesticide circuit rider, CWA 319, and Performance Partnership programs. Within the region, technical and administrative project officers (POs) manage tribal grants and work with the regional Grants Management Office (GMO) to ensure that grant administration requirements are met and that grant activities achieve desired results. |