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A RESOLUTION OBJECTING TO THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORY JURISDICTION TO THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
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WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation, since time immemorial, has exercised the sovereign rights of self-government on behalf of the Cherokee people;
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation is a federally recognized Indian Nation with a historic and continual government-to-government relationship with the United States of America;
WHEREAS, Article VI, Section 7, the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation provides the Council the power to establish laws it shall deem necessary and proper for the good of the Nation;
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed the Cherokee Nation’s treaty reservation boundaries in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U.S. __ (2020);
WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is charged with enforcing certain regulatory programs to protect human health and the environment in the United States, including on lands within the Cherokee Nation reservation;
WHEREAS, on November 8, 1984, the EPA adopted a formal Policy for Administration of Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations (“EPA Indian Policy”), as most recently affirmed by the EPA Administrator on April 5, 2019, which requires the EPA to support Tribal primacy and jurisdiction over environmental programs on reservation lands;
WHEREAS, Section 10211(a) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act, 119 Stat. 1144 (2005) (“SAFETEA”) purports to authorize the State of Oklahoma’s assumption of regulatory jurisdiction over environmental programs on Cherokee Nation reservation lands, which wholly departs from the EPA Indian Policy and treats the Cherokee Nation inequitably as compared to other reservation Tribes across the United States;
WHEREAS, the State of Oklahoma has requested to activate SAFETEA on Cherokee Nation reservation lands, which the EPA approved on October 1, 2020;
WHEREAS, th...
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