§1377 Indian tribes

Summary

Treat Indian tribes like States for certain clean-water and sewage programs, require an EPA assessment and report, and set aside money to help tribes plan, build, and run sewage treatment. The Administrator, working with the Indian Health Service Director, must assess tribal sewage treatment needs, see how much those needs are covered by State allotments and priority lists, and find what blocks getting help. A report with recommendations had to be sent to Congress not later than one year after February 4, 1987. For funding, the Administrator must reserve, before State allotments, one-half of one percent of sums appropriated under section 1287 for each fiscal year 1987–2014. For fiscal year 2015 and later, the Administrator must reserve at least 0.5 percent and no more than 2.0 percent of the funds for subchapter VI. Those reserved funds may only be used for grants eligible under section 1383(c) to serve Indian tribes, former Indian reservations in Oklahoma (as the Interior Secretary decides), and Native villages (as defined in 43 U.S.C. 1602). Tribes and States may make cooperative agreements, approved by the Administrator, to plan and run program duties together. The Administrator may treat a tribe as a State for certain listed parts of the law if the tribe has a governing body with real powers, the functions relate to water resources on tribal or trust lands or inside a reservation, and the Administrator believes the tribe can properly carry out those functions. Grants under section 1329 can be made to tribes as if they were States, but no more than one‑third of one percent of that year’s appropriation may be used this way, and tribes must meet the listed eligibility paragraphs. The chapter does not change or decide Alaska Native organizations’ authority over lands or people in Alaska, does not create or confirm such claims, and does not affect whether “Indian country” exists in Alaska under 18 U.S.C. 1151. Definitions: “Federal Indian reservation” = land within any Indian reservation under U.S. jurisdiction (including rights‑of‑way); “Indian tribe” = group recognized by the Secretary of the Interior that governs a Federal Indian reservation.