The Environmental Protection Agency determined recently that the state of Oklahoma cannot regulate water quality standards on Indian allotments. At the same time, the EPA revoked the Pawnee Tribe's treatment-as-state designation.

EPA's shifting stance comes in a long-running battle between state and tribal governments over environmental regulations. The state is objecting to tribal attempts to assert jurisdiction over tribal lands.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has gotten involved. He has asked for an investigation into EPA's handling of treatment-as-state designations in Oklahoma.

The EPA, on May 2, had granted the status to the Pawnee Tribe but revoked it a month later by saying the official who made the decision lacked the authority to do so.

Get the Story:
Wording on water worries tribes, state (The Daily Oklahoman 7/25)
pwpwd