Tribal Consultation
EPA Released Three Draft Chapters of the Water Quality Standard Handbook on Designated Uses, Antidegradation, and WQS Variances
Deadline Extended: April 11, 2025
On December 12, 2024, the EPA released three draft chapters of the WQS Handbook on Designated Uses, Antidegradation, and WQS Variances for a 90-day public comment period. The WQS Handbook provides a plain language
discussion of the relevant regulatory and statutory requirements and the EPA’s recommendations for how states, authorized Tribes and U.S. territories can develop and implement WQS consistent with both. The EPA has
updated Chapter 2 on Designated Uses, Chapter 4 on Antidegradation, and developed a new chapter on WQS Variances to include the EPA’s most recent WQS programmatic policy and guidance to implement the regulation at
40 CFR Part 131.
All comments must be submitted through the Docket. Visit the EPA’s
WQS Handbook webpage to review the three draft
chapters and for information on how to provide comments.
EPA’s Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for PFOA and PFOS
Deadline: April 16, 2025
The EPA released the Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) for public comment. The draft risk assessment reflects the agency’s latest scientific
understanding of the potential risks to human health and the environment posed by the presence of
PFOA and PFOS in sewage sludge
that is land applied as a soil conditioner or fertilizer (on agricultural, forested, and other lands), surface disposed (e.g., placed in a sewage sludge-only landfill called a monofill), or incinerated.
The EPA will accept written comments on the draft risk assessment through April 16, 2025, via Regulations.gov (Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-OW-2024-0504). For more information, please visit:
https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/draft-sewage-sludge-risk-assessment-perfluorooctanoic-acid-pfoa-and-perfluorooctane
EPA’s Draft National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health for PFOA, PFOS, and PFBS
Deadline Extended: April 25, 2025
The EPA has released draft national recommended health-based levels (human health criteria) for three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water bodies. The three PFAS are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA),
perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS). Human health criteria are not legally enforceable, rather they are information for local entities to consider when making local
decisions about water quality.
The EPA will accept written comments on the draft human health criteria until April 25, 2025. Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) directs the EPA to develop and publish water quality criteria that accurately
reflect the latest scientific knowledge about the effects of particular pollutants on human health and welfare. The EPA’s CWA Section 304(a) human health criteria are recommendations to states and Tribes authorized to
establish their own water quality standards under the CWA. Once final, these recommended criteria can be used by states and authorized Tribes to develop their own water quality criteria that help protect people from
exposure through consuming water, fish and shellfish from inland and nearshore water bodies that may be contaminated by any of these PFAS. For more information:
https://www.epa.gov/wqc/human-health-water-quality-criteria-pfas
Upcoming Efforts to Revise the Definition of "Waters of the United States"
Deadline Extended: May 20, 2025
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of the Army initiated consultation with federally recognized Indian Tribes on certain key topics related to the implementation of the definition of
"waters of the United States." On March 12, 2025, the agencies announced their intent to undertake a rulemaking to revise this definition in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental
Protection Agency, 598 U.S. 651 (2023) with a focus on clarity, simplicity and improvements that will stand the test of time.
The anticipated timeline for the Tribal consultation and coordination period is expected to extend for 60 days from March 21, 2025, to May 20, 2025. The Tribal consultation notification letter and plan are attached.
These consultation materials and the slides from the Tribal consultation kick-off webinar are available on EPA’s Tribal Consultation Opportunities Tracking System (TCOTS) website at:
https://tcots.epa.gov/ords/tcotspub/f?p=106:5::2194::::
Tribes may submit written consultation comments at any time during the Tribal consultation and coordination process via email to
CWAwotus@epa.gov.
If you would like to request government-to-government consultation with the agencies on this action, please have your staff contact Laura Shumway at
CWAwotus@epa.gov and
Elliott Carman, Water Resources Regulation and Policy Advisor, at
elliott.n.carman.civ@army.mil by May 20, 2025. Please identify a Tribal representative to
serve as a point of contact for planning purposes. The EPA will work with your staff to schedule the consultation meeting with your Tribal government as requests are received. The EPA and the Army would like to conclude
consultation meetings by June 2, 2025, so that input from Tribal governments can be received and considered in advance of publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register.
Joint Guidance on Continuous Surface Connection
On March 12th, the EPA and the Department of the Army issued a
memorandum, which provides guidance to the
agencies’ field staff regarding implementation of “continuous surface connection” in response to requests for clarification on the scope of adjacent wetlands in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett. Consistent
with this guidance, and under both regulatory regimes currently in effect across the country due to ongoing litigation (i.e., the Amended 2023 Rule and the pre-2015 regulatory regime as informed by Sackett), the agencies
are interpreting “continuous surface connection” to mean abutting (or touching) a requisite jurisdictional water.
The agencies seek the participation of Tribes and their representative associations in the upcoming Tribal listening session and invite your written input for the recommendations docket, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0093.
You are also welcome to participate in the listening sessions for the public. A pre-publication version of the agencies’
notice
announcing a series of listening sessions and a 30-day written recommendations docket is available on the
EPA’s website.
The recommendations docket will be open until April 23, 2025. The agencies specifically seek feedback on: defining "continuous surface connection," including what it means to "abut" a jurisdictional water; defining
"relatively permanent" and identifying relatively permanent tributaries in the field; and which characteristics can provide clear and implementable distinctions between jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional ditches.
Registration is open for a virtual webinar listening session for Tribes on Zoom. Note that this listening session will be limited to participants from Tribal government agencies and member organizations. Virtual
registration will end at noon one day before the session.
