Invitation to OSWER's
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:25 pm
I’m pleased to invite you and your staff to participate in OSWER’s Tribal Lands and Environment Forum in Coos Bay, OR, August 20-23, 2012. The Forum builds upon the Administration’s commitment to strengthen the government-to-government relationships within Indian country by providing an opportunity for direct interaction among EPA, our tribal environmental counterparts and other federal agencies. The Forum is the centerpiece of OSWER’s continued partnership with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP).
Travel budgets are limited across the Agency. As we each evaluate our travel, we want to invite and encourage participation in the Tribal Lands Forum. The Forum promotes stronger partnerships between tribes and EPA. During the past two years in San Diego and Green Bay, the Forum has served as an efficient venue for these interactions with over 250 total participants each year. Moreover, for this year OSWER is taking steps to enhance the Forum and still provide the much needed in-person interactions with tribes and other federal agencies. For example, we combined the Tribal-EPA Underground Storage Tank (UST) meeting with the Tribal Lands Forum. This combination eliminates one in-person meeting for both EPA and tribal participants who would have attended the Tribal UST meeting and increases the number of travel scholarships that EPA can provide to tribal attendees of the Forum. OSWER has also encouraged their Tribal Response Program grant recipients to participate in the Forum through their CERCLA 128(a) grants. Additionally, OSWER worked closely with ITEP to select a tribally-owned location that put forward an outstanding financial package which also included unique cultural opportunities that have been the highlights of previous Forums. Finally, this year’s location also provides an opportunity to interact with tribes from the Pacific Northwest who may not have previously attended Forums in EPA Regions 9 and 5.
I hope you or your representative(s) will be able to join me at the Forum. Please see additional information below.
Tribal Lands and Environment: A National Forum on Solid Waste, Emergency Response, Contaminated Sites, and Underground Storage Tanks
August 20-24, 2012
Mill Casino and Hotel (owned by the Coquille Tribe)
Coos Bay, OR
http://www4.nau.edu/itep/conferences/confr_tlf.asp
OSWER Tribal Program Contact for additional information:
Andrew Baca – 202.566.0185
baca.andrew@epa.gov
Mathy Stanislaus
USEPA Assistant Administrator
Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response
Travel budgets are limited across the Agency. As we each evaluate our travel, we want to invite and encourage participation in the Tribal Lands Forum. The Forum promotes stronger partnerships between tribes and EPA. During the past two years in San Diego and Green Bay, the Forum has served as an efficient venue for these interactions with over 250 total participants each year. Moreover, for this year OSWER is taking steps to enhance the Forum and still provide the much needed in-person interactions with tribes and other federal agencies. For example, we combined the Tribal-EPA Underground Storage Tank (UST) meeting with the Tribal Lands Forum. This combination eliminates one in-person meeting for both EPA and tribal participants who would have attended the Tribal UST meeting and increases the number of travel scholarships that EPA can provide to tribal attendees of the Forum. OSWER has also encouraged their Tribal Response Program grant recipients to participate in the Forum through their CERCLA 128(a) grants. Additionally, OSWER worked closely with ITEP to select a tribally-owned location that put forward an outstanding financial package which also included unique cultural opportunities that have been the highlights of previous Forums. Finally, this year’s location also provides an opportunity to interact with tribes from the Pacific Northwest who may not have previously attended Forums in EPA Regions 9 and 5.
I hope you or your representative(s) will be able to join me at the Forum. Please see additional information below.
Tribal Lands and Environment: A National Forum on Solid Waste, Emergency Response, Contaminated Sites, and Underground Storage Tanks
August 20-24, 2012
Mill Casino and Hotel (owned by the Coquille Tribe)
Coos Bay, OR
http://www4.nau.edu/itep/conferences/confr_tlf.asp
OSWER Tribal Program Contact for additional information:
Andrew Baca – 202.566.0185
baca.andrew@epa.gov
Mathy Stanislaus
USEPA Assistant Administrator
Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response