Tribal Consultation

Proposed Establishment of the National Tribal Caucus (NTC) Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act

Deadline: August 9, 2024

The U.S. EPA is proposing to reorganize the National Tribal Caucus (NTC) as a Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and to increase the proportion of elected or traditionally appointed Tribal leaders that serve on the group.

In conjunction with this proposal, EPA is reviewing the characteristics of the NTC to strengthen the operations of the group and increase collaboration with the other EPA Tribal Partnership Groups. These proposed changes will clarify the process by which EPA receives Tribal leadership recommendations on technical programs and budget planning, elevate the NTC as the preeminent group of Tribal representatives that provides advice directly to EPA leadership on items of national significance under EPA’s purview, and strengthen EPA’s ongoing commitment to collaboration and partnership with Tribes and the government-to-government relationship. This proposal reflects the commitment of the EPA to engage directly with Tribal leaders and ensures that Tribal leaders engage at the highest levels of the Agency on environmental issues that impact Indigenous communities.

Learn more about the current NTC, including the current 2012 Charter, on the NTC website. Learn more about the Federal Advisory Committee Act on EPA’s FACA website.

Please reach out to Daniel Vaught, AIEO, at vaught.daniel@epa.gov, if you have any questions regarding this Tribal consultation opportunity, if you would like to request government-to-government consultation with EPA on this matter, or if you would like to provide written input to EPA. The deadline to request for a consultation meetings is May 17, 2024.

The deadline to submit a comment is August 9, 2024. Consultation materials are available on EPA’s Tribal Consultation Opportunities Tracking System (TCOTS) website located at: https://tcots.epa.gov.