环保署批准纳瓦霍族「视同州待遇」：成全美首个可管理联邦水污染许可计划的部落
美国环境保护署（EPA）10月21日宣布，批准纳瓦霍族（Navajo Nation）的申请，授予其在联邦《清洁水法》下「视同州待遇」（Treatment as a State，TAS）资格，涵盖国家污染物排放消除系统（NPDES）与污泥管理两项计划。纳瓦霍族由此成为全美第一个取得这两项计划TAS资格的部落。
纳瓦霍族拥有全美面积最大的部落保留地，横跨亚利桑那州、犹他州与新墨西哥州。取得资格后，纳瓦霍族可申请在自有土地上管理这两项计划，包括发放设定排放限值与监测报告要求的许可证、规范污水污泥的使用与处置，并执行相关执法与行政职能，与各州依照《清洁水法》第402条行使的权限类似。
EPA太平洋西南区局长 Mike Martucci 表示，这一批准「使纳瓦霍族离直接管理其土地上水资源更近一步」。EPA国际与部落事务助理局长 Usha Maria-Turner 称，这是「NPDES计划首个TAS批准」。纳瓦霍族环保局局长 Stephen B. Etsitty 表示，取得NPDES管理权限对纳瓦霍族的未来发展具有重要意义。
EPA表示，此举与署长 Lee Zeldin 提出的五大支柱之一「合作联邦主义」一致，即由联邦与州、部落等各级政府分担环境治理职责。
EPA Grants Navajo Nation Treatment as a State, a First for Federal Water Permitting Programs
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on October 21 that it has approved the Navajo Nation's application for treatment in a similar manner as a state (TAS) under the federal Clean Water Act, covering the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and biosolids programs. The Navajo Nation becomes the first tribe in the country to receive TAS eligibility for these two programs.
The Navajo Nation holds the largest tribal reservation in the United States, spanning Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. With the eligibility, the Nation may apply to administer the two programs on its own lands, including issuing permits that set discharge limits and monitoring and reporting requirements, regulating the use and disposal of sewage sludge, and carrying out related enforcement and administrative functions, similar to the authority states exercise under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act.
Mike Martucci, EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator, said the approval brings the Navajo Nation "one step closer" to directly managing the water resources on its lands. Usha Maria-Turner, Assistant Administrator for International and Tribal Affairs, called it the "first-ever TAS approval for the NPDES program." Stephen B. Etsitty, Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, spoke to the importance of obtaining NPDES authority for the Nation's future development.
The EPA said the action aligns with cooperative federalism, one of the five pillars set out by Administrator Lee Zeldin, under which federal, state, and tribal governments share responsibility for environmental protection.
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：纳瓦霍族保留地内的纪念碑谷（Monument Valley）。照片：W. Bulach，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Monument Valley within the Navajo Nation Reservation. Photo: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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