Danny Gogal: Okay, so this webinar is part of a EPA Environmental Justice Webinar Series for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples. This is the fifth of a series of webinars, they started in November of last year. It's our intention to have all of the webinars recorded sessions posted on our Tribal and Indigenous Peoples' web page. We will be, hopefully having the web page updated and having these-- some of the recordings from the past webinars available very soon. Today's webinar is on a few topics. The primary ones are EPA Tribal Partnership Groups, and there's a range of EPA Tribal Partnership Groups that we'll be discussing with you today. And then we're going to highlight one of those and that's the National Tribal Air Association, and I'll-- depending on the time that we have I'll be providing some information about some current events in the environmental justice program. So that's what we're going to be covering today, during today's webinar. So as far as the speakers and presenters, my name is Danny Gogal, I'm the tribal Indigenous Peoples Program Manager for the Office of Environmental Justice. We're going to have also Andy Byrne who's a Senior Advisor with the Policy and Partnerships Team, with EPA's American Indian Environmental Office we'll be talking about EPA Tribal Partnership Groups and then we have two guests with us today Carol Kriebs, who's the National Tribal Air Association Chairperson and also the Environmental Director for the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, and Brandy Toft the National Tribal Air Association Vice Chair, who's also the Environmental Deputy Director for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. And then at the end as I've indicated I'll have some information to share about the Environmental Justice Program. So just want to give a little bit of context for today's discussion, there's a lot of questions that have been raised over the years, the existence of EPA's EJ Program about environmental justice and what it means to federally recognized tribes and indigenous peoples, and the distinction amongst those two groups that we work with, and so I want to just share a little bit of that understanding before we get started. So our work with both federally recognized tribes and what we refer to as indigenous peoples which is all other tribal members and others that are not federally recognized tribal governments, is based on the agency's policy on environmental justice for working with federally recognized tribes and indigenous peoples, and this was issued in 2014. And some of the key approaches that we have just to draw the state the distinction about how we work with fully recognized tribes and how we work with all other indigenous peoples is that we work with federally recognized tribes on a government-to-government basis as tribes pursue self-determination in fulfillment of the federal trust responsibility. Many of you are well aware of the fact that tribes have a unique political status United States which is one of the reasons why we have the trust responsibility and why we work with tribes on a government-to-government basis, and that they are not to be considered a community group or just another stakeholder if you will. However we do work with all other indigenous peoples, now these are the state recognized tribes, the non-recognized tribes tribal members, indigenous organizations native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders there's other identification of folks that we identify as indigenous peoples that we work with as communities organizations and as individuals, not in the same capacity as we do with federally recognized tribes. So that's just a little bit of a background on that, so I'm going to turn it over now to Andy Byrne, who once again will share with you some information about our EPA tribal partnership groups, Andy?
Andy Byrne: Thank you, Danny for that introduction. As Danny mentioned, my name is Andy Byrne, I've worked on AIEO's policy and partnership team since 2012, and it's a pleasure to be here with you today. So before we discuss the Tribal Partnership Groups or TPGs, as we call them as an acronym, that work with EPA, I think it's important to quickly highlight how EPA's tribal program came to be, which then led to our work with the TPGs. So as folks on the phone may be aware, in the 1960s, the United States became increasingly aware of a rising and severe environmental problems. Some of the more infamous examples that you may be aware of are the effects of DDT on wildlife particularly bald eagles, and you may also be aware of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio literally catching fire more than a dozen times. This growing awareness and movement led to the establishment of the EPA in 1970, and also spurred congress to create new legislation to address these problems. On the slide, you'll see a number of the statutes listed, and you can check them out when you receive the slides on your own time, but next slide please, Danny. So now just regarding the EPA Tribal Program, in 1970 when EPA was formed, EPA did not have an established approach for how to integrate environmental protection for Indian country, nor did EPA know exactly what role tribe themselves would play in EPA's programs. However, EPA quickly stood by two important principles that continue today. The first of these principles is that states generally do not have environmental program authority in Indian country and EPA therefore retains program response-- responsibilities for Indian country up to the point that tribes themselves are able to apply for and receive environmental program authority. So over the years, EPA and congress then further recognized the importance of tribes playing a central role in EPA's programs. This was best solidified and recognized in EPA's 1984 Indian Policy which is still in effect today. But the 1984, Indian Policy stressed EPA's government-to-government relationship with fairly recognized tribes. EPA's continuing position that tribes are best suited to take on environmental programs themselves. And so EPA will work with tribes to develop capacity and assume such programs and the EPA policy was also stressed the importance of consultation with tribes which eventually led to EPA's 2011 Consultation Policy. So furthering this national recognition of a need for tribal roles and environmental programs in the mid to late 1980s, congress then amended several major environmental statutes such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, to specifically create a process for qualified tribes to assume regulatory program authority. This is known as treatment in a similar manner as states or abbreviated as TAS and also continues to be a significant part of EPA's tribal program today. Next slide, Danny, great thanks. So EPA's modern tribal program was formally created in 1994, when then EPA administrator Carol Brown issued her action memorandum which was an agency-wide memorandum specifying specific actions EPA would take to further our tribal program. A few real important highlights are that this memorandum affirmed the recent creation of my office the American Indian Environmental Office, and also the creation of the National Tribal Caucus or NTC, which was the first tribal partnership group that EPA worked closely with. The memorandum also reorganized EPA's infrastructure so that each program and regional office developed dedicated staff that work specifically on tribal program issues. For example, EPA's Office of Water took on specific staff that worked specifically on tribal water program issues. The memorandum continued to highlight certain prime responsibilities of EPA such as the responsibility to implement environmental programs in Indian country known as direct implementation and again the continuing importance of consultation with tribes. Next slide. Thank you. So this slide is intended to show EPA's tribal program infrastructure which I just quickly described, so in the middle you have that column which shows my office AIEO, the American Indian Environmental Office, which works closely with the National Tribal Caucus and the National Tribal Operations Committee to see how we can best protect human health in the environment in Indian country. On the right side, are other EPA Headquarters Offices which have tribal program specialists known as Headquarters Indian Coordinators, many of these headquarters Indian coordinators work closely with an affiliated tribal partnership group. On the left side, of this diagram you've got the EPA regional offices which also have tribal program specialists in each of the regional offices now have associated partnership groups known as the-- primarily known as the Regional Tribal Operations Committees or RTOCs. Next slide. So now, I'd just like to quickly introduce you to EPA's specific Tribal Partnership Groups and one group that I'd like to highlight in specific in particular is the National Tribal Caucus or the NTC which is the group that my office primarily works with. As mentioned previously, it was created in 1994 and currently consists of 20 members across all of EPA's 10 regions. The NTC is comprised of Senior Tribal Advisors who work with EPA staff and other Tribal Partnership Groups to facilitate national discussions on tribal environmental priorities. The NTC also meets with EPA Senior Leadership to jointly form the National Tribal Operations Committee or NTOC which is a high-level group of those senior officials to have specific and focused discussions on protecting environmental-- improving environmental protection in Indian country. Next slide. So this is just a picture of a previous end talk meeting where you have the Senior EPA Leadership, that's Gina McCarthy in the front row with members of the NTC. Current NTC Chair Gerald Wagner, is in the middle of the back room-- of the back row with a dark shirt on. Next slide, thank you. So apart from the NTC, most EPA program offices work with specialized Tribal Partnership Groups to advance programmatic policies. These groups were created after the NTC at various times after 1994, and each of them have unique missions, structure and manners of interaction with EPA, but they all work cooperatively with EPA to improve environmental protection, in specific program areas. Over the past few months many of these groups have created and shared priority documents for the incoming administration which is very helpful and used to inform EPA senior leadership of the most pressing issues for Indian country today. As mentioned previously, each of the regional offices Again, works with a Regional Tribal Partnership Group that focuses on environmental issues that may be specific or particular to the regions that they're in. Next slide. So just briefly listed here are the Tribal Partnership Groups that EPA works with. I'm going to quickly provide a brief description of each group, and then as Danny mentioned, we're going to have a detailed presentation from representatives of the National Tribal Air Association, who are on the line with us today. If you'd like more information, each of the Partnership Groups has a listed web link and I believe we will be sharing the slides with you in a few days so you can get as much information on those groups as is available on the website. So the first group is the National Tribal Water Council. The National Tribal Water Council was formed in 2006, and really focuses on information sharing among EPA tribes and associated tribal communities and organizations on priority water issues. The water council increases communication and raises awareness for tribes to have greater input on actions to protect water quality and improve drinking water in tribal communities. Each of the groups that I'm going to mention does have listed priorities, I'm not going to go over all of the talking points just because you will be provided with these slides, but just know that this information will be shared with you shortly. So I'll just quickly note, the Tribal Waste and Response Steering Committee was formed in 2009 to maintain a cooperative exchange of information between Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, EPA, and other federal partners and organizations, and the TWAR as it's known is working to assess, understand, prevent, or mitigate environmental impacts that adversely affect health, culture, and natural resources. Next slide, please. The Tribal Science Council was established in 2001 to provide scientific support in Indian country. It's a tribal and agency forum to collaborate on environmental science issues of mutual benefit, and is committed to developing sound scientific and cultural approaches to meet the needs of tribes. Next slide, please. The Tribal Exchange Network Group supports tribes, management analysis and sharing of environmental data and to use data to advocate for and preserve tribal lifeways, maintain cultural integrity and enhance tribal members sense of place. Next slide, please. The Tribal Pesticide Program Council or TPPC is a tribal technical resource and program and policy development dialogue group, focused on pesticides issues and concerns. The TPPC assists tribes in building tribal pesticide programs, providing pesticide education and training, and researching, developing and presenting a broad range of tribal pesticide related issues and concerns. Next slide, please. And I believe this is the last specific slide that we have, that I have, but the National Tribal Toxics Council focuses on providing tribes with an opportunity for greater input on issues related to toxic chemicals and pollution prevention, and gives tribes a forum for providing advice on the development of EPA's chemical management, and pollution prevention programs that affect tribes. Again, each of these organizations has a little bit more detail on these slides, and you can find more information on the website just to preserve as much time for your questions in the presentation by the National Tribal Air Association. I abbreviated that information just a little bit, but hopefully that provided you an overview of EPA's beginnings, how our tribal program got started and our ongoing work with some of the Tribal Partnership Groups. I believe the next slide is with the National Tribal Air Association, and thank you very much for your time today.
Danny Gogal: Great, thank you, Andy, and as Andy just mentioned, and I indicated in the very beginning of the webinar, we have two guests with us today from the National Tribal Air Association. We'll give an a more detailed overview of how these EPA Travel Partnership Groups operate and each one of them are different not only in the times of their beginning, but also their operation in the way that they go about organizing themselves. So we're going to turn it over now to both Carol and Brandy. 
Carol Kriebs: I would just like to say thank you for having us here today, it's been a pleasure to partner with all of you and to share about the National Tribal Air Association or our acronym is NTAA. So the lovely lady on our right, is Brandi Toft, and she is the Vice Chair, and I am located on the left, and my name is Carol Kriebs, I am the chair and we're going to give you a brief overview of NTAA today. Next slide, please. There are 574 tribes across the nation, but this map represents the location for the 153 NTAA Tribal Members. Next slide, please. This slide gives a brief snapshot of our Governance and Administration. In NTAA EC members are comprised of 22 members, 2 for each region, one primary, and one alternate and for the—from those 22 members there are four Chair-- Sorry, there are four officers. The chair, the vice chair, the treasurer and the secretary. On the right-hand side is the NTAA staff support, the staff supports the NTAA EC and member tribes through a grant that is disseminated from the EPA. Next slide, please. This slide represents the Clean Air Excellent Award that NTAA has recently been awarded. This award is due to strong partnerships that NTAA has with its member tribes. Now, I'd like to hand it over to our Vice Chair Brandy Toft. Brandy Toft: Thank you very much, Carol, great words there. So I want to talk to you guys about forming the base why-- why we are here as NTAA and why we fight for air quality in Indian country. So the first off is EPA's 1984 Indian policy and you'll see here, I included links for each one of these for quick reference, so you can look at those in the future. But the EPA 1984 Indian Policy was of course, in 1984, is nine guiding principles that EPA put forth to guide them in working with federally recognized tribes. And EPA is a leader in this policy, it's been upheld, it's been ever since Nixon, it's been reaffirmed, but there's always room for improvement we're still learning on how to implement that and that trust responsibility of the federal government in the Indian country. So then in 1990 with the Clean Air Act amendments, this was very key for tribal air quality, it allowed the legislation to come forth for treatment as states for tribes. It's very odd wording right, and it's very we like to say treatment as a sovereigns, but in the legislation it is treatment as a state, and that then allowed tribes to govern their own environmental programs, before there wasn't too much of a mechanism for this, and so this put that in there. So from that, that's like the 1990-- the TAS or the treatment as states was like the legislation and then from that came the Tribal Authority Rule which is like the rule, of the legislation and how to implement the TAS and different things with the Clean Air Act. So the TAR was first put in 1990 but didn't get promulgated and finally implemented until 1998, that's an interesting little fact right there. And then this really allowed us to really implement those air programs with the Clean Air Act and really created a flexibility for tribes that we could take on different portions of the Clean Air Act and implement them as our capacity improved or grew, and didn't preclude us from not taking something, so it was really a great way for tribes to go about that. And then in 2011 there was the consultation policy and the main point from this is it really promoted that government-to-government consultation in communication on a government-to-government level, not just staff to staff, government to government on matters affecting tribal air well actually just tribal anything, but in our case tribal air. And I really want to hit this at the bottom that tribes are sovereigns. First and foremost tribes are sovereign nations, so unlike like other EJ communities tribes are governments and sovereigns. And we were established before the United States, established before the states themselves, and a little factoid here too, is that not all tribes consider them EJ communities so ask, inquire about it in a respectful way for that. Next slide, please. And so for this what do we do at NTAA? Well, we're very policy driven organization so that's what we do, and we put out policy resource kits, and so in the last four or so years we put out 35 different policy resource kits, these can include a fact sheet, a template letter for the tribe to assist them in writing, a good comment letter with good scientific backing that some tribes may not have the capacity for or the time. We're talking about some one-person shops two-person shops, and then also a letter that NTA submits formally to the committee, and these range from greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants toxics, air quality permitting and others, I located a website again down here for you, but I also want to reiterate not all these resource kits were done for EPA. We're very much going out talking about NEPA, EJ, different things like that that are outside and HUD, things that are outside of EPA. Next slide, please, and I think it goes back to Carol.
Carol Kriebs: Thank you, Brandy, yes so this slide represents a letter that NTAA submitted to the new administration. The Biden's team then scheduled a listening session with NTAA the six recommendations that were discussed from the STAR were to uphold our tribal sovereignty, increase funding for tribal air quality programs, greater support for Alaska, conduct air quality needs assessment, facilitate partnerships, greater support for emerging wildfire threats. We also talk to them about rescinding rules. So for instance, Affordable Clean Air Energy Rule, which could be replaced with regulations based on clean power plan or clean energy incentive program. We also talked to them about SAFE vehicles and CAFE standards, which could be replaced with standards that align more with the best science, and then we went on to talk to them about renewed funding, so funding for tribal air quality programs have remained stagnant since 2012 as the numbers of federally recognized tribes have increased. Lowering the amount of funding that is in the grant pot making it very difficult for tribes to maintain their programs. So then we went on to talk some to them about relevant and redefined air quality standards like the PM 2.5 max to reflect the  cumulative effects of particulate matter and COVID-19 and to set standards between 30 to 25 micrograms per cubic meter. We also talked to them about restoring voluntary programs like the indoor air quality and strengthen the stay indoor rate radon grant program with more robust tribal presence. For us this was a very successful meeting with the Biden's team, and we know they heard and listened to us, since they honored us with some of the language and the context from our letter and it was used in some of the executive orders, so that was really, really exciting for us. So now, I'd like to hand it back over to Brandy to finish our presentation.
Brandy Toft: Thanks, Carol, so what is some other work that NTAA does on EJ? Okay I'm getting kind of the basis-- Carol give you how we've talked with administration, but we have monthly calls, we have a website all these things that-- all this information, we [UNINTELLIGIBLE] left us everything like that, is open to all tribes, we don't discriminate, please, join us please get into this air realm and understand this. However, our membership is for federally recognized tribes, that's by our charter, and so if your federally recognized tribe is free to become part of the NTAA and we're growing strong like we stated before, we're the second largest tribal organization in the United States. But also in this endeavor, we've created a boilerplate because we saw the need for stronger language to be used, four tribes about EJ issues in Indian country, so we've established that for our own paperwork and white papers and such. But then also we've provided commenting on the draft EJ strategic plan here in 2018 to 2020 and also the HUD Draft EJ Strategic Plan in 2018. Next slide, please. Then also with the Office of Environmental Justice as where Danny is from today, we've engaged in the development and the relevance of EJSCREEN. There's-- when it was first put out there were some concerns about how relevant it was for tribes to use it didn't get really down to the level having tribal boundaries and such on there. And then we also strive to ensure equitable funding across for tribes and it's not always like beating congress's door for this, but it's also just looking at these mechanisms for providing funding, such as DERA, the Diesel Emission Reduction Act, where we wrote letters saying, we need a special tribal set-aside, we can't compete against the big states the big organizations and we need a lower base because we have smaller fleets or whatever it may be, those were very successful and allowed many more tribes to be very proactive in this. And then the VW Settlement, we again ask for a tribal set-aside and very successful—this project has been so successful that is used hopefully in the future and to replicate for other settlements. But one thing I really want to reiterate that every day if we recognize it or not NTA is working on environmental justice issues in Indian country by commenting, by engaging, by sharing information, and by bringing things to light so others know. Next slide, please. So in that, one of our favorite and I just call it the super bowl of air quality is the 2021 National Tribal Air Forum on Air Quality, National Tribal Forum on Air Quality, and this year as most things it's virtual so it'll be new one, but this is-- it gets on average about 200-250 tribal airheads and that we call ourselves that with love that we all come together and talk by so many issues, ambient air quality, indoor air quality, monitoring and censoring policy, different things to go with policy and rules and regulations, climate change and overall how to operate a program, we do a lot of tribal case studies in this too, and sharing how we can get more resources out there, so please join us. And next slide, please. Then to join us that was-- save the date and we don't have a link yet for the May 17th STAR kickoff go to ntaatribalair.org and keep track of registering for the National Tribal Forum on Air Quality, but there you can also see our latest PRKs, our policy resource kits, get our weekly updates we put a weekly newsletter out, and download, I'm not a big person for apps but this is a big thing we have both a iPhone App and an Android App, so you can have us on the go and we have different work groups. We have the Indoor Air Quality Work Group, the Wood Smoke Work Group and the Mobile Sources Work Group. So we just invite you, come be an airhead, join us and we hope this was informational for you. Thank you, and we'll pass this on to Danny.
Danny Gogal: Great, thanks Brandy and Carol that was a lot of information, it shows the significant work that NTAA does and you all basically serve it as an example of how many of other EPA tribal partnership groups operate as well. I think you effectively made it very clear that you are open to working with really any tribe, and if I'm not mistaken just a clarification, are our indigenous organizations also able to be part of your group in some capacity? If you can just clarify that for everyone.
Brandy Toft: There's an association membership, not a principal membership.
Danny Gogal: Okay, but they're welcome to be part of it that capacity, is that correct?
Brandy Toft: Yeah, they can go to the website and apply.
Danny Gogal: Great. So thank you for that from both of you, and as I indicate, I'm just gonna share little bit of information about what's been happening with the EJ Program, there's a lot that's been transpired over the last couple months and I thought it'd be helpful just to take advantage of this time just to share some of that information with you. So as we've been talking about, EPA has an Office of Environmental Justice and we do work very closely with fellow recognized tribes and indigenous peoples as just explained earlier certainly by Carol and Brandy. So just a definition for environmental justice, there's certainly more than one. EPA's definition is a fair treatment and meaningful involvement in all of our programs policies and activities in our work with all peoples regardless of race, color and national origin and income. And two kind of key points to note about this that we're seeking to achieve this for everyone and we believe this would occur when everyone has the same degree of protection from environmental health hazards, and equal access to decision-making processes to provide for healthy environments for folks to live work learn, play, and pray. And there's one other aspect that's been raised in recent times here and that's to also have the fair and equal benefits from environmental public health protection, so that might be something you might be hearing more about. So we didn't mention this earlier, I did reference it at the very beginning that we have an EPA policy on environmental justice for working with federally recognized tribes and indigenous peoples, I would highly recommend that you take a look at that if you are not familiar with it. It was issued in 2014, this is a policy that built upon the 1984 Indian Policy that you heard both Andy from EPA's American and Environmental Office and I believe it was Brandy who discussed it with NTAA, and this one not only talks about how we work with federally recognized tribes on environmental justice, but all other indigenous peoples. And there's four main components of it, it's you heard, Andy mentioned our direct implementation work, so it's when we go about doing that work how do we incorporate environmental justice in our actions, and work to provide environmental public health protection in Indian country as well as other parts throughout the United States. And there's also a section on how we work with tribal governments directly to support their efforts to address environmental justice issues, and then we have a section on how we work with all other indigenous peoples. Broadly defined and then how there's another section, the last one on how we work with other fellow agencies states and other partners and to collaborate and coordinate on addressing the environmental justice concerns of both federally recognized tribes and all other indigenous peoples. A couple other quick parts to note about the policy. You heard Andy Byrne give a good overview of the EPA tribal program and the fact that we have staff dedicated to working on tribal issues that's, specifically, federally recognized tribes in all of our regional offices we have 10 regional offices in all of our program offices. We also have staff that have been identified to help facilitate the implementation of this tribal indigenous EJ policy. They're called Environmental Justice Tribal Indigenous Peoples Advisors and there is a link to all of these individuals on our web page that pertains to our work with tribes and indigenous peoples on environmental justice. And the last point is one of the key things we're doing as a group of staff focused on implementing this policy is we're coordinating this webinar series, which for this particular webinar is part of. So a couple other quick things before we open up some questions, this is just some of the key principles that are in the policy, there are 17, I'm not going to read these, we are going to send this Powerpoint presentation to you, so you'll be able to see those as well as the links to all the other information that we're sharing. We do have a Federal Advisory Committee on environmental justice it's been in existence for quite some time as you can see here, haven't it been established in 1993. There are 30 members on this body, these are external, stakeholders these are not federal government representatives, and we are in the process now, again trying to fill some of the vacancies and there is a tribal government and indigenous organizations vacancies, so it is a vacancy that's open to either a federally recognized tribal government official or an indigenous organization. So if you are interested and being considered for the NEJAC we ask you to get your nomination in, it's the closing for that is March 24th and there's a link here that you can use to identify how to go about doing that. We have a couple of financial assistance programs, we have the Environmental Justice Small Grants and the EJ Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreements, both of these were just announced last week if you haven't seen the notice, and you're interested in finding more about it, all of you should have my email address and we will be showing our contact information at the end of the presentation. So you can send me a message if you'd like me to send you information about these particular grant programs, you could obviously Google them as well. Something just to point out to you that the award amounts were increased this year, the EJ Small Grants were 30,000 dollars maximum for quite some time that's been moved up to 50,000 and the EJ cloud of problem solving profit agreements were at 120,000 and those are now at 150,000. And as you see here as far as the eligibility goes, both federally recognized tribal governments and all other indigenous peoples grassroots organizations, those that are 501 C 3, state recognized tribes included are eligible for these grants and cooperative agreements. And there are some focus issues that you want to be mindful of when you're applying for those. Just one thing about the range of executive orders that have been issued by President Biden. There's one-- several actually that pertain to environmental justice, but one I want to point out to you is Executive Order 14008, particularly, Section 219 that talks about an emphasis and focus on environmental justice, and you can see here some of the key points that they call upon federal agencies to continue to make achieving EJ part of our missions that we are to secure environmental justice and spur economic opportunity under work to consult with members of communities that includes federally recognized tribes and that we are to increase coordination, collaboration and engagement. So I just want to bring some of those to your attention and this concludes our formal presentations, I commend my fellow presenters, we did this in record time, we were trying to be very mindful of the fact that we wanted to leave plenty of time for Q&A and we even did better than I think we were expecting. So we are now going to open it up for questions and answers as I mentioned at the beginning of the webinar, we've asked folks to please put their questions in the chat box, you can continue to do that. And if you want to ask a question verbally, we ask you to please click on the hand that exists and your hand will show up and we will call upon you as we go through the Q&A. So I'm going to turn this over to Pat Childers from once again our American-- excuse me our Office of Air and Radiation, is the Tribal Program Manager for that Office and my colleague Erica Farrell in the office.
Pat Childers: Danny, this is Pat, you might as well stay on because the first question comes from Brandy Toft, and she's asking about the WHEJAC compared to the NEJAC, can you go into a little discussion on the creation of the WHEJAC?
Danny Gogal: Hey, I can do that and it's still in the process of ascertaining what exactly is going to transpire there but the difference between the NEJAC, that the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council which is a Federal Advisory Committee to EPA. As I mentioned to you, all was started in 1993, and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Committee is who the committee speaks to. So on the NEJAC the advice and recommendations go to the EPA administrator, therefore the focus is on the operations of the agency as our efforts to integrate and address environmental justice concerns, whereas the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council the recommendations go to the president and it's meant for guidance for the federal government overall. So it's a way to get to all of the other federal agencies on environmental justice. I understand that there will be some announcements very soon regarding the membership on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and both the NEJAC and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council will be very well coordinated, because our staff and OEJ and EPA are helping to assist with and over-- and providing some management for both of those. I hope that answered that question.
Childers Pat: That's an excellent response, if somebody from Office of Indoor Air is on Scott has a question specific to indoor air issues, I've been answering questions while we were speaking, but just to take note NTAA does have an indoor air work group as well as other work groups that work on these specific issues. And I believe there was a question about non-federally recognized state tribe membership or participation in any of these groups, Brandy did answer that question vocally, and I think Erica Wilson answered the question for her partnership group. But for most part I believe the partnership groups are limited to federally recognized tribes and members, but there are other groups such as the NEJAC Clean Air Act Advisory Committee that would be brought up—broader opening, but not tribal specific. I'm scrolling through other questions.
Brandy Toft: Pat, can I add to that?
Childers Pat: Sure.
Brandy Toft: My interpretation of that is not exclusionary, but rather than the federally recognized tribes have laws and judicial ways to move things into comment and work on issues in Indian country with some things, where other organizations, nonprofits or tribal groups and or state recognized tribes don't have that same mechanism. So I think that's why a lot of these were based off that initially, but like I said we still welcome everyone, but you won't have per se a vote, but you'll have-- be part of the conversation.
Pat Childers: And that existence of state recognized tribes is part of the reason for the existence of this policy we're talking about, the indigenous people's policy which it brought is-- is a broad policy to include state recognized tribes as well as federal recognized tribes. Going just continuing on there was a question from Violet Blumenthal on involvement of any of the partnership groups on the keystone pipeline opposition, would anybody like to speak on that?