UPCOMING CALLS/EVENTS/NOTICES

NCAI and Center Indian Country Development to Present Webinar Series on Increasing Homeownership in Indian Country

NCAI’s Partnership for Tribal Governance and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’s Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) are partnering to present a four-part webinar series in January on increasing homeownership across Indian Country. Based on CICD’s Tribal Leaders Handbook on Homeownership, the series will inform tribal leaders, tribal housing staff, and their partners about best practices for homeownership program development and growth. NCAI Contact: Tyler Scribner, Policy Analyst, tscribner@ncai.org. The remaining webinar is as follows:

  • Thursday, January 30, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. EST: MAKING HOMEOWNERSHIP AFFORDABLE. Topics will include making homeownership affordable, home design and construction: making the right choices, and manufactured homes: an affordable homeownership option. To register, click here.

 

NEW! Marama Webinar Series: Air Pollution Meteorology & Modeling

PART 1 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020, 1:30 – 3:00 PM ET

PART 2 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020, 1:30 – 3:00 PM ET

This two-part webinar series provides an introduction to the basics of air-pollution meteorology and dispersion modeling using the USEPA reference model, AERMOD. Students will learn meteorological concepts as well as the mechanics of running AERMOD and the screening model AERSCREEN. A practical example will be included. Each webinar session will last approximately 1.5 hours. Please CLICK HERE to register for BOTH webinars in this series by Friday, January 31, 2020. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

NEW! Request for Applications for EPA’s American Indian Air Quality Training Program, RFA#: EPA-OAR-IO-20-03, Closing Date: March 13, 2020

EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) is soliciting applications from eligible entities to provide comprehensive air quality policy and regulatory analysis including support and national coordination activities to assist tribes in understanding, participating in, and responding to OAR’s policy and regulatory activities. The total estimated funding for this competitive opportunity is approximately $8,000,000 over five years. EPA anticipates awarding one cooperative agreement from this announcement, subject to availability of funds, the quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations.

          EPA’s Teleconference Overview of RFA: OAR will hold a teleconference to provide an overview of the scope of work listed in the RFA to any parties interested in the opportunity. The teleconference will take place on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 2:00 PM (EST). The conference call-in number is 202-991-0477 with call-in code: 150 1081. Please contact Pat Childers (childers.pat@epa.gov or 202-564-1082) if you have any logistical questions prior to the teleconference.

 

NEW! Interested in Strategic Planning? Community Outreach? Enroll in ITEP’s online courses!

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) is pleased to offer professional development training to new and seasoned tribal professionals through interactive online courses. The Tribal Strategic Planning/ETEP and Partnerships & Community Outreach courses will be available February 13 – March 20, 2020. The two online courses listed here are fee-based and have instructors to ensure your individual questions are answered in a timely manner during the course period.

Instructors:

  • Sharon Hausam, Ph.D., AICP, Pueblo of Laguna, Planning Program Manager
  • Ondrea Barber, former Director for the Gila River Indian Community’s Department of Environmental Quality and Manager for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Environmental Protection & Natural Resources Division

These online courses contain assignments, quizzes, videos, examples, and other resources. You will continue to have access to course materials after the course end date. Learn more and register for the two courses using the following links:

 

Virgil Masayesva Excellence Award and TAMS Steering Committee

The TAMS Center is announcing a call for nominations for the Virgil Masayesva Tribal Air Programs Excellence Award and three (3) positions on the TAMS Steering Committee.  Further information and the nomination forms are online and can be accessed at: Virgil Masayesva Excellence Award Nomination Form and TAMS Steering Committee Nomination Form. The deadline to submit the nominations is February 28, 2020. We sincerely appreciate your time to consider submitting a nomination. For further information, please contact either Farshid Farsi, TAMS-EPA Codirector (Farsi.Farshid@epa.gov or 702-784-8263), or Christopher Lee, TAMS-ITEP Codirector (christopher.lee@nau.edu).

 

NEW! NPRM: Procedures for Federal Acknowledgment of Alaska Native Entities

This proposed rule would establish a new part in the Code of Federal Regulations to address how Alaska Native entities may become acknowledged as an Indian Tribe pursuant to the Alaska Amendment to the Indian Reorganization Act. This proposed rule would not affect the status of Tribes that are already federally recognized. Comment period closes on March 2, 2020. More information can be found in the Federal Register.

 

Tribal Consultation Opportunity Announcement: EPA’s Draft Principles for Consulting with Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Corporations

Lead Office: OITA

Open Dates: 12/16/2019 – 4/14/2020

More information on the TCOTS site.

 

NEW! Ogden, Murphy, Wallace 21st Annual Tribal Environmental Seminar

Our 21st Annual OMW Tribal Environmental Seminar program will take place in Seattle, over a one and one-half day period, on Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26, 2020. Tribal leaders, Tribal environmental program managers, and Tribal in-house counsel are invited to attend the OMW Tribal Environmental Seminar as our guests at no charge. The theme for the 2020 Seminar is “Using Federal, Tribal and State Law to Protect the Tribal Homeland and Preserve Tribal Rights and Resources.” For more information and to reserve your place at the table please give Jennifer Sanscrainte or Melody Wasley a call at 206.447.7000.

 

Early bird registration extension for the Air Sensors International Conference

Early bird registration has been extended to January 31, 2020, for the Air Sensors International Conference. The ASIC, taking place May 12-15, 2020, will bring together stakeholders from academia, government, communities, and commercial interests to promote and advance air pollution sensors, improve the data quality from these sensors, expand the pollutants measured, and foster community involvement in monitoring air quality. More information can be found here.

 

NEW! Air Quality Awareness Week: May 4-8, 2020

On behalf of our AirNow partners – NOAA National Weather Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Department of State – EPA is pleased to announce that Air Quality Awareness Week 2020 will be celebrated May 4 – 8. Our theme this year is Better Air, Better Health! Our goal is to promote events that increase air quality awareness and the effects of air quality on health, as well as encourage people to check the AQI daily. We plan to focus on the following daily topics this year, featuring one each day on the AQAW website:

  • Monday – Wildfires & Smoke
  • Tuesday – Asthma & Your Health
  • Wednesday – Where’s Your AQI Coming From?
  • Thursday – Air Quality Around the World
  • Friday – Shout-out of state and local events (Send us yours! See examples at the link below.)

We will release the website on Monday May 4, the first day of AQAW (see www.airnow.gov/airaware). We would love to help spread the word about your Air Quality Awareness Week programs and events. Please send information about your events to lee.debra@epa.gov as soon as you have it available, and we will post it on our events page. (For examples from 2019, visit this link.) Don’t forget to tag @airnow in your social media posts! We’ll be using the hashtag #AQAW2020 this year. You are welcome to post comments to the AirNow Facebook page to let everyone know how your events are going.

 

NEW! Save the Date: 21st Annual National Tribal Forum on Air Quality (NTFAQ) on May 27-29, 2020, hosted by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The NTFAQ provides environmental professionals from tribes, EPA, and other organizations an opportunity to meet and discuss current policies, regulatory initiatives, and technical topics in air quality. The NTFAQ is a cooperative endeavor co-sponsored by The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and the National Tribal Air Association (NTAA), made possible by funding from US EPA and our generous sponsors. We are soliciting tribal co-hosts for the 2020 NTFAQ! Stay tuned to the ITEP website for information on registration, scholarships, and more.

 

Save the Date: Tribal Lands and Environment Forum on August 17-20, 2020

This year’s Tribal Lands and Environment Forum: A National Conversation on Waste and Response Strategies, will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 17-20, 2020. Registration, session proposal forms, travel information, and field trip announcements will all be coming soon. Stay tuned! www.nau.edu/TLEF

 

Tribal Grants Education and Technical Assistance Webinar Series Second Wednesday of Every Month at 1pm ET

For more information, click here!

 

NTAA Upcoming Calls. The toll-free number is 1-800-309-2350. If you do not need to call toll free, or would like to help conserve NTAA funding, you can call 1-805-309-2350. Both numbers use code 928-523-0526#. Contact Andy.Bessler@nau.edu if you have any questions about any call! *Registration instructions* When you register for the GoToWebinar, please remember to include your Tribe, Region, or Organization in parenthesis after your last name. This allows you to see everyone on the call and prevents us from conducting a roll-call, ultimately saving everyone’s time.

 

EPA Policy Call: Call in to hear updates from EPA on policies, actions, and tools relevant to Indian Country and Air Quality. Thursday, January 30, 2pm ET
STAR Planning Call: The NTAA Status of Tribal Air Report (STAR) helps tell the story of Tribal Air Programs, why additional funding for Tribes is critical to advance air quality, and is a great resource for Tribes. Wednesday, February 5, 2 pm ET
Mobile Sources Work Group: This monthly work group addresses all mobile source pollution issues. Thursday, February 6, 2pm ET

 
Indoor Air Quality Work Group: Join this work group every other month to help support IAQ work throughout Indian Country. Thursday, February 20, 2pm ET
Wood Smoke Work Group: Join this work group every other month to address wood smoke issues in Indian Country. Thursday, March 19, 2pm ET

 

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professional’s (ITEP’s) Tribes and Climate Change Calendar includes conferences, trainings, webinars and other events related to tribes and climate change.

Click here for ITEP’s other trainings and events.

Click here for ITEP’s new Tribal Environmental Management and Planning Online Courses. New courses have been added, so check it out!

 

 ITEP’s FY20 AIAQTP Course Schedule 

 

Course Title Dates Location Course Level
  2020    
Air Quality Computations February 11-14 Phoenix, AZ 1
Fundamentals of Air Monitoring February 25-27 TAMS Center, Las Vegas, NV 2
Indoor Air Quality Diagnostic Tools in Alaska March 3-6 AK – TBD 2
Air Pollution Technology March 10-13 Flagstaff, AZ 2
Meteorological Monitoring April 14-16 TAMS Center, Las Vegas, NV 3
National Tribal Forum on Air Quality (NTFAQ) May TBD  
Air Pollution Modeling Fall 2020 TAMS Center, Las Vegas, NV 3
Air Quality Outreach TBD TBD 1
 
Air Quality Planning for Wildland Smoke Anytime Series of 6 recorded webinars n/a
Indoor Air Quality – Independent Study Anytime Independent Study 1
Building Performance: Improving IAQ in Cold Climates Open Online 1
Building Performance: Improving IAQ in Warm Climates In development Online 1
Residential Building Science Review Open Online 1
Radon Fundamentals Open Online 1
Quality Assurance Fundamentals (QA 101) Open Online 1
Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) (QA 201-209) Open Online 2
Emissions Inventory Fundamentals Open Online 2
Emissions Inventory Advanced Open Online 3
Note: This schedule is subject to change.  For up-to-date information, course descriptions, and applications please visit http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/Training/training_air/

 

Climate Change / Energy

NEW! And Today! Energy Justice and Solving Climate by 2030

January 29, 2020, from 1:15pm to 2:15pm EST

Join the Security and Sustainability Forum and Bard College in a sixty minute session about how innovative city and state policy will be critical to ensure justice in the economic transformation needed to solve the energy side of climate change by 2030. Panelists are entrepreneur and energy democracy leader Michael Dorsey and Eban Goodstein, Director of the Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College. Michael will explore how both energy and income inequality could be impacted, positively and negatively, as renewable energy infrastructure scales. He will focus on how we can rewire the world with clean energy to help alleviate injustice. Eban will discuss a new Bard-led program, Solve Climate by 2030. The program is supporting a nationwide series of campus and community Power Dialogs to engage 100,000 students in critical conversations about power as in “clean energy”, but also about power as in “engaged civic action”. Register here!

 

Tribal Climate Health Project 2020 Webinar Series: eight webinars on the third Tuesday of the month (9-10:30am PT) from January 21 – August 18

The Tribal Climate Health Project, an initiative of the Pala Band of Mission Indians/Pala Environmental Department, is pleased to announce the 2020 Tribal Climate & Health Adaptation Regional Cohort Webinar Series. Please visit our website for more information on how to register for this informative and engaging webinar series. This FREE interactive training is offered through a series of eight live webinars scheduled on the third Tuesday of the month (9:00 – 10:30am PT) from January 21, 2020 through August 18, 2020. The training will provide steps, tools, templates, case studies, and other resources that seek to streamline the adaptation planning process and make it easier for tribal health and environmental professionals to understand and address human health exposures and impacts within tribal communities. This training will summarize the latest data and literature on the exposures and impacts of climate change that may impact the health of tribal community members. It will also describe how to identify and select appropriate strategies to address these exposures and impacts.

 

NEW! The Climate Reality Project Upcoming Trainings

Las Vegas Training, March 8-10, 2020 (Apply by January 31)

San Antonia Training, April 14-16, 2020 (Apply by February 28)

The Climate Reality Project and former US Vice President Al Gore are excited to hold the first Climate Leadership Trainings this year in Las Vegas! Scholarship are available.

Scholarship Overview:

Climate Reality seeks to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every level of society. In building this solution, we know that climate justice must be centered in our efforts. Our training scholarships aim to help accomplish these goals by increasing representation and participation in the climate conversation from people of color, students, youth, activists and leaders and members from frontline communities, who have historically been marginalized within the climate movement.

How to Apply:
While there is no registration fee for our training event, this scholarship program seeks to aid training participants with transportation costs, hotel accommodations, and meal stipends to attend the two and half day event. To apply for a scholarship, please complete this form by February 3, 2020

 

Save the Date! National Tribal & Indigenous Climate Conference August 31-September 4, 2020

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) is honored to host the

United States’ First annual National Tribal and Indigenous Climate Conference

(NTICC) along with support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Tribal Resilience Program. The NTICC is open to all US tribal nations and Indigenous Peoples from throughout the world, with an emphasis on including our Elders and Youth. The NTICC will convene experts on climate change, which will include a balance of Western Science and Traditional Indigenous Knowledges. Topic areas will address: impacts, assessments, adaptation, mitigation, implementation, and solutions. This conference will allow an opportunity to share information and support one another. We welcome all to join us in 2020!

 

ITEP’s Climate Change Adaptation Training Courses registration is online! Learn more about the courses and register here.

 

Toxics/Mobile Sources

NEW! Experts to Gather to Discuss the Public Health Threat from Gasoline Aromatics

Thursday, February 6, 2020, 8am-5pm EST

A live webcast will be streamed at www.eesi.org/livecast

The discussion will highlight alternatives to gasoline aromatics that benefit public health, the environment/climate change, national security, and the economy. These solutions could be implemented in the upcoming Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule. Panel highlights include discussions on gasoline aromatics and EPA’s duty to control them, how gasoline aromatics are the new lead, new science emphasizing corn ethanol’s low carbon intensity factors and more.

Federal Register Publication Notice: EPA’s Cleaner Trucks Initiative — Advance Notice of Proposed Rule

The EPA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rule (ANPR) titled “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine Standards” has been published in the Federal Register. Please note that the 30-day comment period for this ANPR began Monday, January 21, 2020, and all comments must be submitted on or before February 20, 2020. The EPA websites, ANPR: Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine Standards

and Cleaner Trucks Initiative will be updated, replacing the earlier “pre-publication” version of the ANPR with the official version in the link above. The NTAA will be submitting a request for comment extension as well as developing a Policy Resource Kit.

 

Green Transportation Summit & Expo and the West Coast Collaborative Partners Meeting April 13-15, 2020

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and the Green Transportation Summit & Expo (GTSE) have partnered to provide 25 complimentary full-conference passes to the Green Transportation Summit & Expo in Tacoma this April 13-15. The GTSE is the Pacific Northwest’s premier clean fleet and transportation event, focusing on fleets, fuels, technologies, policy & practice, with a regional focus and a national scope. We will provide you the opportunity to see, touch, drive, and learn about new transportation technologies firsthand, such as electric, hydrogen, natural gas and propane-powered heavy-duty vehicles, off-road utility vehicles, generators, and others. Workshops on DERA, VW funding, other federal funding opportunities, and alternative fuels will be presented. Please join us at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center for the 10th annual GTSE to learn about clean transportation, how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollutants, and costs in your fleet operations. To learn more about the conference, check out our website. To receive the code for the complimentary passes, please contact ITEP’s Dara Marks Marino at Dara.Marks-Marino@nau.edu.

 

Indoor Air Quality

The Human Forest: Volatile Chemical Products Contribute to Urban Air Pollution

Wednesday, February 5, 2020, 1:00-2:00pm EST

Recent work in Los Angeles has shown that emissions from consumer product and industrial solvent use – collectively, volatile chemical products (VCPs) – contribute as much to the abundance of urban volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as the emissions from motor vehicles. VCP emissions are predominantly emitted to the indoor environment, but are then transported to the outdoors via building exhaust. In this presentation, we will show that VCP emissions are ubiquitous in U.S. cities and correlate with urban population density.

Join the webinar here.

 

January 2020 National Radon Action Month Webinar Series

Four webinars will be conducted in January. Space is limited, so register here soon! The remaining webinar is:

  • January 30, 11-11:30am ET. Elevated Radionuclides in Private Wells

 

EPA’s Residential Wood Smoke Workshop in New Orleans, March 10-12, 2020

Workshop Background Information: Workshop participants will include state, local, tribal, federal and non-profit organization personnel.  Workshop participants will discuss residential wood heating/combustion program issues, opportunities, challenges, lessons learned, and partnerships as outlined in the draft agenda. This Workshop will be held in conjunction with the Hearth, Patio and Barbeque Association (HPBA) Trade Show/Expo, which offers Workshop participants a valuable opportunity to tour the Trade Show floor and meet with industry representatives.  At the Expo a wide variety of hearth technologies are on display including cordwood, wood pellet, coal and gas stoves, wood-fired central heating system.  You do not need to register for the HBPA Expo – by registering for the Wood Smoke Workshop you will receive a name tag-pass for the Expo. The Workshop is being coordinated and supported by EPA, the Western States Air Resources Council, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management and National Tribal Air Association. More information can be found here, or contact Larry Brockman, brockman.larry@epa.gov, 919-541-5398.

 

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