Environment | Opinion

Wyoming Governor: EPA designation for tribes is 'unlawful'





Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) says Environmental Protection Agency shouldn't have approved treatment as state status for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe:
The Environmental Protection Agency's administrative action expanding the Wind River Indian Reservation raises many questions. Here are a few of them:

What happens with sales tax? What happens to state facilities and programs in the area? What agencies are responsible for law enforcement? How are property rights affected?

People are asking these questions and more about the EPA's recent decision to approve the application (of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Eastern Shoshone Tribe to be treated as a state under provisions of the Clean Air Act) and the EPA's outrageous position that its decision applies beyond the exterior boundaries of the Wind River Reservation to non-tribal communities including Riverton, and perhaps Pavillion and Kinnear.

I share these concerns, and I believe the EPA's action is wrong. I have asked Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael to take aggressive steps to overturn it.

Get the Story:
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead: EPA action on rez 'is unlawful' (The Riverton Daily Ranger 1/8)

Related Stories:
WyoFile: Wyoming objects to EPA designation for two tribes (1/8)
Wyoming plans appeal for tribal treatment of state designation (12/11)
EPA approves treatment as state status for Wyoming tribes (12/10)
Tribes in Wyoming seek treatment as state status from EPA (11/22)

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