Accomplishments

Administration

In 1997 NAEPC began a four-year GAP grant, which included environmental office establishment and staff training for member Tribes and NAEPC, technical training, grant writing assistance, environmental justice awareness, the establishment of an education and outreach program, and the development of solid waste ordinances.  NAEPC began with the dream of building environmental management programs for its 4 founding tribes.  Today these tribes continue to have strong environmental programs.  NAEPC is proud to continue to provide services to over 25 member tribes.  These tribes are diverse inland base, resource issues, and community size, and tribal environmental management ranges from emerging to maturing programs.  The tribe continues to evolve in managing its land management issues.  NAEPC provides needed professional development and training opportunities to the tribes to increase their environmental management capacities.

Waste Reduction & Prevention

In 1997 NAEPC was awarded a SWANA grant to offer training in solid waste management and planning, landfill operation and regulations, ordinances, and codes.

Environmental Justice

NAEPC assisted member and non-member Tribes, and the community at large by advocating for environmental justice to bring awareness to the proposed Gregory Canyon Landfill through meetings and the development of a video.

Chemical Emergency Preparation

In 1999 NAEPC began a Chemical Emergency grant, which included the development of chemical emergency plans for member Tribes by using GIS to locate and map each reservation.

Recycling

In 1999 NAEPC began a recycling grant to develop a Recycled Office Products catalog and assist member Tribes in establishing recycling programs.

Air Program

In 2000 NAEPC was awarded a 103 Air grant to complete basic needs assessments and emission inventories for member Tribes. By attending conferences and training NAEPC was able to alert Tribes to new EPA air standards. NAEPC also organized and facilitated meetings on these issues for EPA and Tribes throughout California.

Border XXI to Border 2020

In January 2003 NAEPC closed out a Border XXI grant in which NAEPC held five roundtables to bring Tribal issues to the EPA’s attention. The roundtables included updates from the EPA, states, project coordinators, and Tribes from Mexico. Key information was also disseminated to the Tribes. Today, NAEPC provides coordination among the 26 border tribes located in Arizona, California, Texas, and Mexico Indigenous Communities.  Many of the tribes with contiguous communities in Mexico are concerned about the impacts of new border "wall" may have upon their traditional, cultural and ceremonial ways.

Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program

In May of 2012, the NAEPC tribes voted to initiate their own UST inspection program by obtaining their own federal inspection credential.  In May of 2017, the long-awaited credential was finally issued to Helen V. Rubio.  Since that time NAEPC's new UST Coalition membership includes the following tribes:   Blue Lake Rancheria, Campo, Chemehuevi, La Jolla, Morongo, Pala, Pechanga, Rincon, and Tohono O'odham. NAEPC is awaiting additional funding to proceed with inspections and trainings.

National Exchange Information Exchange Network (NEIEN) Program

In 2015 NAEPC initiated this project is to provide training and assistance to tribes on the WQX Exchange Network Flow and use of AWQMS.  This project has 8 goals: 1)import physical/chemical data into AQWMS and flow it to WQX; 2) Share WQX data between member tribes in Region IX; 3)import habitat assessment and biological data into AWQMS and flow it to WQX; 4)implement QA/QC procedures and enhance AWQMS to improve services in AWQMS; 5) Leverage the EPA hosted virtual node for data publishing services in AWQMS; 6)Enhance reporting, graphing and mapping capabilities in AWQMS; 7)Provide WQX and AWQMS support to tribes thorough NAEPC's Stream Team, and 8)comply with administrative requirements identified in CFRs.  NAEPC 7 tribes participating in this project include Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Hoopa, La Jolla, La Posta, Morongo, and Santa Ynez.  Each are participating at various levels depending upon ability to dedicate employee time.