Who enforces federal environmental laws on Indian reservations?
Many federal environmental laws provide the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the authority to approve tribal management of federal environmental programs, similar to the EPA’s oversight and approval authority over state administration of these laws.(89) Where there is no EPA-approved program for tribal administration of a federal environmental law on an American Indian reservation, most such laws typically provide that the federal government has jurisdiction to enforce the law on the reservation.(90) Federal environmental laws which have been amended to permit the EPA to authorize tribal management of federal environmental programs include: the Safe Drinking Water Act (amended to permit authorization of tribal programs in 1986); the Clean Water Act (amended in 1987); and the Clean Air Act (amended in 1990).(91) The EPA has also made several determinations that it has the discretion to allow tribal management of environmental programs under certain federal laws even thoug
