{"id":61605,"date":"2021-01-13T09:11:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T16:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=61605"},"modified":"2021-01-13T09:11:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T16:11:42","slug":"ntaa-itep-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/ntaa-itep-award\/","title":{"rendered":"National Tribal Air Association wins EPA\u2019s Clean Air Excellence Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today awarded the Clean Air Excellence Award in State\/Local\/Tribal Policy to the National Tribal Air Association<\/a> (NTAA). Leadership of NTAA consists of executive committee members, a primary and alternate elected from each of EPA\u2019s 10 regional tribal caucuses and two representatives from Alaska. The administrative staff support of NTAA is administered by Northern Arizona University\u2019s Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP).<\/a><\/p>\n

The Clean Air Excellence Awardees are selected by EPA\u2019s\u00a0Clean Air Act Advisory Committee<\/a>. The award recognizes and honors outstanding innovative efforts to help make progress in achieving cleaner air. Winning entries must directly or indirectly reduce pollutant emissions, demonstrate innovation, offer sustainable outcomes and provide a model for others to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my honor to accept this award on behalf of the NTAA\u2019s Executive Committee and ITEP staff that support the important work of the NTAA and its membership,\u201d said NTAA Chairwoman Carol Kriebs, environmental director for the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. \u201cAll of NTAA is committed to advancing air quality protection and reducing environmental pollution in our nation\u2019s Tribes, and this award recognizes those efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNTAA\u2019s Clean Air Excellence Award reflects the hard work done by the many tribes across the nation, who are important partners with federal, state and local agencies, in protecting both ambient and indoor air quality and in mitigating climate change,\u201d Kriebs said. \u201cDespite several centuries of oppression and trauma, Tribes across this great nation continue to prosper, grow and carry with pride the status of the First Americans. The NTAA Executive Committee understands this legacy and will continue to serve all tribes to build tribal sovereignty and ensure tribal partnerships with federal, state and local agencies remain strong in order to advance our nation\u2019s air quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

NTAA project director Andy Bessler<\/strong> said this award was the result of hard work and dedication from many, including NTAA tribal members and representatives as well as NTAA staffers Dara Marks-Marino and senior research specialist and program coordinator Mariah Ashley. NTAA also is supported by ITEP and its staff.<\/p>\n

NTAA was founded in 2002 and is one of the nation\u2019s largest tribal membership organizations with 151 federally recognized Principal Member Tribes. NTAA\u2019s mission is to advance air quality management policies and programs, consistent with the needs, interests and unique legal status of American Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives.<\/p>\n

Learn more about EPA\u2019s Clean Air Excellence Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About the National Tribal Air Association<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 1999, Congress amended the Clean Air Act with the Tribal Authority Rule that allows Tribes to regulate air quality in a manner similar to states. Federally recognized Tribes and Alaskan Native Villages felt the need for a national tribal air quality organization which would help support Tribes on the policy side of Tribal air quality management. In response, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in 2000 passed Resolution STP-00-074 that endorsed an effort to \u201cresolve and define the membership, mission, and governance of an air management organization, and to bring the organization into existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2001, the EPA Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) initiated a cooperative agreement \u201cto strengthen tribal air programs and their abilities, in order to enhance communication and coordination on policy and regulatory activities among federally recognized tribes and between OAR and federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2002, NCAI Resolution SD-02-20 passed to \u201csupport in principal the activities, projects and programs of the National Tribal Air Association in its endeavors to address and affect tribal air quality management issues\u201d and \u201csupports the responsibility of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to maintain its government to government relationship with tribes as well as maintaining its relationship with the National Tribal Air Association I fulfilling its mission and goals on behalf of Tribal air quality management.\u201d<\/p>\n

NTAA has operated since 2002 funded by a cooperative agreement through the U.S. EPA\u2019s Office of Air and Radiation. Since 2013, NTAA has been administered by Northern Arizona University\u2019s Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals. More information on the NTAA can be found on NTAA\u2019s website, www.ntaatribalair.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today awarded the Clean Air Excellence Award in State\/Local\/Tribal Policy to the National Tribal Air Association (NTAA). Leadership of NTAA consists of executive committee members, a primary and alternate elected from each of EPA\u2019s 10 regional tribal caucuses and two representatives from Alaska. The administrative staff support of NTAA is…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":61610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}