The RTOC works to promote Tribal sovereignty, assist Tribal environmental protection programs, and guide EPA regarding Tribal needs and concerns. Its meetings serve as a forum for two-way communication on environmental priorities affecting Tribal lands. The events facilitate collaboration between Tribal environmental directors, EPA personnel, and other federal agencies on public health, funding, and technical issues. The in-person event also allowed for virtual participation for most of the sessions.

STED Environmental Director Christian Aceves said RTOC’s heart lies in government-to-government consultation. The RTOC brings Tribal leadership together with EPA counterparts to collaborate on environmental policies, program design, and regional issues.

The first day of the meeting featured about 70 in-person participants. Attendance swelled on Wednesday, with around 105 individuals joining onsite and an additional 60 dialing in virtually. Participants included Environmental Delegates and Leadership (Council members, Environmental Directors, Specialists, Coordinators), EPA representatives (staff, Regional Administrators, Division Directors, Grant Project Officers), and nonprofit and higher ed partners like NAEPC and NAU. Facilitating the event were RTOC Tribal co-chair Roman Orona, of the Ak-Chin Indian Community and RTOC EPA co-chair Mike Martucci, Acting Regional Administrator for U.S. EPA Region 9.

Martucci assured the group that their concerns about Quality Assurance issues were heard loud and clear and being taken into consideration. “We want you to know that we are committed to continuing to support you in the ways that we can and in ways that you need us to support you so that you can achieve your environmental goals,” he said. “We want to understand how we can serve you best and are looking forward to figuring out what that future looks like through robust conversations together.”

Laura Ebbert, Director at the same department as Martucci said, “We recognize that RTOC is so much more than what is on the agenda and these meetings are so much more than what’s on the screen.”

Orona expressed that at the end of the day, the work that Tribes are doing is not a job, it’s a responsibility. “It’s a responsibility in our relationships, not only with each other as humans but more specifically with our relatives of the land, and the air and the water and the things that those provide for us, not just now but for the future generations,” he said. “That’s why this work is so passionate to these Tribal community members. When we hand it off to them, that’s what we’re going to be judged on—what we gave them. So, when we have these conversations, it’s deeper than just now. These are the conversations that we are trying to get other federal agencies to understand; it’s about relationships. We are all going to be ancestors one day and what is your legacy going to be? At some point, I would hope and I pray that we get to that point where the Tribal voice is truly being heard and considered and that we’re not just dictated to.”

Aceves said the RTOC Committee reached out in early 2024 about hosting this event again, recognizing Soboba’s enthusiastic participation in prior events. He felt the successful hosting of the first 2024 Summer RTOC made Soboba the natural choice for a second round, with both EPA and RTOC teams strongly encouraging another gathering.

“This is easily the largest gathering of Tribal environmental professionals in Region 9, second only to the full EPA Annual Conference,” Aceves said. “The RTOC meets quarterly and serves as a vital forum where Tribal professionals and EPA officials engage in true government-to-government consultation. At this event, Region 9 Tribes offered direct feedback to the EPA on grants, policy development, program performance and more, fulfilling the RTOC’s mission to strengthen Tribal EPA partnerships through constructive dialogue.”

To further its goals, the RTOC focuses on three key areas: policy and management of EPA Indian programs; coordination/communication among Tribes, EPA, and other agencies; and education.

There were many meaningful activities during the three-day RTOC meeting with Monday’s site visit, Tuesday’s Tribal Caucus, Wednesday’s Plenary Sessions and two days of workgroups for breakout sessions. Action items that are discussed receive a written response from both the EPA and the proposing Tribe. These responses are addressed at the following RTOC meeting. You can view the list of addressed action items at www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2026-06/r9-rtoc-response-to-winter-2026-action-items.pdf.

The first day began with a welcome by Aceves who shared details about the department’s mission and Soboba’s environmental programs which include a General Assistance Program, Clean Water Program, and Waste Management Program. His slideshow presentation was followed by a tour of the reservation that focused on showcasing Soboba’s solar infrastructure and the Tribe’s long-term commitment to energy sovereignty. The tour highlighted the Tribe’s three major solar installations: the Casino rooftop array, the Fire Department carport system, and the expansive Soboba Solar Fields.

On site visits allowed attendees to learn about the projects’ histories, funding sources, and the technical components behind each system, emphasizing how these investments reduce energy costs and strengthen Tribal resilience. The feedback was enthusiastic; many Tribes expressed that seeing these systems firsthand helped them envision how similar projects could be implemented in their own communities.

In addition to breakout sessions on Wednesday, the morning also featured a virtual visit from Usha-Maria Turner, the EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate this past October. She will lead efforts to advance the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.

Turner’s appearance led to some heated discussions about the EPA’s proposal to reduce RTOC meetings from four to two per year, a significant concern for Tribes.

“In-person gatherings offer richer engagement than virtual meetings, especially for Tribes in rural areas with limited internet access,” Aceves said. “Reducing meetings risks silencing voices and weakening government-to-government connection. RTOC is indispensable for empowering Tribal leadership and ensuring strong environmental policy input. This is a concerning matter that will be followed up at the next RTOC event scheduled to take place at EPA headquarters in San Francisco.”

A major highlight of the week for the STED team was presenting the wide range of environmental programs and innovative tools Soboba uses to protect its lands.

“Beyond our community programs for Elders and youth, including household hazardous waste disposal, CRV recycling, and Earth Day initiatives, we also showcased how Soboba maximizes Geographic Information Systems technology to enhance environmental protection. We demonstrated how GIS mapping supports wildlife tracking, identifies illegal dumping sites, and helps monitor environmental changes across the Reservation,” Aceves said. “Sharing these tools and approaches with other Tribes felt empowering; many of us work in our own silos and forget how much we can learn from one another. By opening the door to our methods, we help strengthen Tribal environmental capacity across the region. At the end of the day, we’re all working toward the same goal: healthier lands, healthier people, and a stronger future for our communities.”

For more information, https://epa.soboba-nsn.gov.

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CHICAGO (AP) — More than one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That’s why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to help municipal governments cut food waste in their communities.

The letter came on the heels of two recent reports from the EPA on the scope of America’s food waste problem and the damage that results from it. The local officials pressed the agency to expand grant funding and technical help for landfill alternatives. They also urged the agency to update landfill standards to require better prevention, detection and reduction of methane emissions, something scientists already have the technology to do but which can be challenging to implement since food waste breaks down and starts generating methane quickly.

Tackling food waste is a daunting challenge that the U.S. has taken on before. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, but the country has made little progress, said Claudia Fabiano, who works on food waste management for the EPA.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Fabiano said.

Researchers say the EPA reports provide sorely needed information. One report found that 58% of methane emissions from landfills come from food waste, a major issue because methane is responsible for about a quarter of global warming and has significantly more warming potential than carbon dioxide.

With the extent of the problem clearly defined, some elected leaders and researchers alike hope to take action. But they say it will take not just investment of resources but also a major mindset shift from the public. Farmers may need to change some practices, manufacturers will need to rethink how they package and market goods, and individuals need to find ways to keep food from going to waste.

So for the first time since the 1990s, the EPA updated its ranking of preferred strategies for waste reduction, ranging from preventing wasted food altogether (by not producing or buying it in the first place) to composting or anaerobic digestion, a process by which food waste can be turned into biogas inside a reactor. Prevention remains the top strategy, but the new ranking includes more nuances comparing the options so communities can decide how to prioritize their investments.

But reducing waste requires a big psychological change and lifestyle shift from individuals no matter what. Researchers say households are responsible for at least 40% of food waste in the U.S.

It’s a more urgent problem than ever, said Weslynne Ashton, a professor of environmental management and sustainability at the Illinois Institute of Technology who was not involved with the EPA reports. Americans have been conditioned to expect abundance at grocery stores and on their plates, and it’s expensive to pull all that food out of the waste stream.

“I think it is possible to get zero organic waste into landfills,” Ashton said. “But it means that we need an infrastructure to enable that in different locations within cities and more rural regions. It means we need incentives both for households as well as for commercial institutions.”

With the problem clearly defined and quantified, it remains to be seen whether communities and states will get extra help or guidance from the federal level — and how much change they can make either way. The EPA has recently channeled some money from the Inflation Reduction Act toward supporting recycling, which did include some funding for organics waste, but those are relatively new programs.

Some local governments have been working on this issue for a while. California began requiring every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services starting in 2022. But others don’t have as much of a head start. Chicago, for instance, just launched a city-wide composting pilot program two weeks ago that set up free food waste drop-off points around the city. But prospective users have to transport their food scraps themselves.

Ning Ai, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, said the report could be bolstered by more specific information about how different communities can adopt localized solutions, since preventing food waste might look different in rural and urban areas or in different parts of the country. But she was also impressed that the report highlighted tradeoffs of environmental impacts between air, water and land, something she said is not often as aggressively documented.

“These two reports, as well as some of the older ones, that definitely shows up as a boost to the national momentum to waste reduction,” said Ai, who was not involved with the EPA’s research.

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Sophie Austin | Contributed

The Biden administration cleared the way Friday for California’s plan to phase out a wide range of diesel-powered trucks, part of the state’s efforts to drastically cut planet-warming emissions and improve air quality in heavy-traffic areas like ports along the coast.

The decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows California — which has some of the nation’s worst air pollution — to require truck manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks over the next couple of decades. The rule applies to a wide range of trucks including box trucks, semitrailers and even large passenger pick-ups.

“Under the Clean Air Act, California has longstanding authority to address pollution from cars and trucks. Today’s announcement allows the state to take additional steps in reducing their transportation emissions through these new regulatory actions,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan, in a statement.

Gov. Gavin Newsom applauded the state’s role as a leader for setting ambitious vehicle emission standards.

“We’re leading the charge to get dirty trucks and buses – the most polluting vehicles – off our streets, and other states and countries are lining up to follow our lead,” the Democrat said in a statement.

The EPA typically sets standards for tailpipe emissions from passenger cars, trucks and other vehicles, but California has historically been granted waivers to impose its own, stricter standards. Other states can then follow suit, and eight other states plan to adopt California’s truck standards, Newsom’s office said. In a letter last year, attorneys general from 15 states, Washington, D.C., and New York City urged the EPA to approve the California truck standards.

The transportation sector accounts for nearly 40 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions. Newsom has already moved to ban the sale of new cars that run entirely on gasoline by 2035. The EPA has not acted on those rules.

The new truck standards are aimed at companies that make trucks and those that own large quantities of them. Companies owning 50 or more trucks will have to report information to the state about how they use these trucks to ship goods and provide shuttle services. Manufacturers will have to sell a higher percentage of zero-emission vehicles starting in 2024. Depending on the class of truck, zero-emission ones will have to make up 40 percent to 75 percent of sales by 2035.

The announcement came as advocates are pushing for more ambitious tailpipe emissions standards in other states and at the national level.

“We don’t just fight for California, we fight for all of the communities,” said Jan Victor Andasan, an activist with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. The group advocates for better air quality in and around Los Angeles, the nation’s second-most populous city that is known for its dense traffic and intense smog.

Andasan and other environmental activists from across the country who are a part of the Moving Forward Network, a 50-member group based at Occidental College in Los Angeles, met with EPA officials recently to discuss national regulations to limit emissions from trucks and other vehicles.

But some in the trucking industry are concerned about how costly and burdensome the transition will be for truck drivers and companies.

“The state and federal regulators collaborating on this unrealistic patchwork of regulations have no grasp on the real costs of designing, building, manufacturing and operating the trucks that deliver their groceries, clothes and goods,” said Chris Spear, president of the American Trucking Association, in a statement.

“They will certainly feel the pain when these fanciful projections lead to catastrophic disruptions well beyond California’s borders,” he added.

Federal pollution standards for heavy trucks are also getting tougher. The EPA released rules that will cut nitrogen oxide pollution, which contributes to the formation of smog, by more than 80 percent in 2027. The agency will propose greenhouse gas emissions limits this year.

The agency expects the new standards and government investment will lead to zero-emissions electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks carrying most of the nation’s freight.

California activists Andasan and Brenda Huerta Soto, an organizer with the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, are troubled by the impact of pollution from trucks and other vehicles on communities with a large population of residents of color that live near busy ports in Los Angeles, Oakland and other cities as well as warehouse-dense inland areas.

Huerta Soto works in Southern California’s Inland Empire, where a high concentration of trucks pass through to transport goods. On top of truck pollution, the many cars, trucks and trains that travel through the area burden residents with noises, odors and pollutants these vehicles emit, she said.

“We have the technology, and we have the money” to move toward zero-emission vehicles, she said.

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In what could prove a significant move for communities facing air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Thursday that chemical plants nationwide measure certain hazardous compounds that cross beyond their property lines and reduce them when they are too high.

The proposed rules would reduce cancer risk and other exposure for communities that live close to harmful emitters, the EPA said. The data would be made public and the results would force companies to fix problems that increase emissions.

“This is probably the most significant rule I’m experiencing in my 30 years of working in cancer alley,” said Beverly Wright executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She referred to an area dense with petrochemical development along the Gulf coast.

In the past, Wright said, even when emissions caused harm, residents weren’t able to sue and reduce the threat.

The proposed measure is also intended to address short-term emissions spikes when plants start up, shut down and malfunction. If the proposal is finalized, it would impact roughly 200 chemical plants, the agency said.

Fence line monitoring has long been a priority of the environmental justice movement and a number of refinery communities have won it in recent years. This measure would extend some of those changes nationwide.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced the plan in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, home to the Denka chemical plant, which makes synthetic rubber and emits chloroprene, listed as a carcinogen in California. Denka is less than a half mile from an elementary school and has been targeted by federal officials for allegedly increasing the cancer risk for the nearby, majority-Black community.

“For generations, our most vulnerable communities have unjustly borne the burden of breathing unsafe, polluted air,” Regan said.

A spokesperson for Denka said it is waiting to review the proposed language before commenting. Data show the plant has drastically reduced its emissions over time and it already conducts fence line monitoring. In documents, however, EPA said the plant remains a danger to those who live nearby.

The changes also focus on manufacturers of ethylene oxide, which is commonly used in medical sterilization plants. Long-term exposure to that chemcial can increase the risk of lymphoma and breast cancer. The agency plans to issue proposed regulations for medical sterilization plants in the near future.

According to the agency, the proposal would slash ethylene oxide emissions nationwide by about two-thirds and chloroprene by three-quarters from 2020 levels. Emissions that worsen smog would be reduced as well.

The American Chemistry Council said industry emissions have declined over the last decade. It is concerned about the EPA’s proposal for reducing ethylene oxide, and says it is based on a faulty EPA risk assessment.

“Overly conservative regulations on ethylene oxide could threaten access to products ranging from electric vehicle batteries to sterilized medical equipment,” said council spokesman Tom Flanagin, adding that the EPA may be rushing its work on significant regulations.

Regan visited this same parish in 2021 on a five-day trip from Mississippi to Texas to highlight low-income and mostly minority communities harmed by industrial pollution.

Then last year, the EPA said it had evidence that Black residents face an increased cancer risk from the Denka chemical plant and state officials were allowing pollution to remain too high. The agency’s letter was part of an investigation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says anyone who received federal funds cannot discriminate based on race or national origin.

Next, federal officials sued Denka in February, demanding it cut its emissions. Now, they’ve proposed tighter regulations on chemical plants.

“This is a day to celebrate,” Wright said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Texas companies have resolved Clean Air Act violations with the Environmental Protection Agency by agreeing to reduce emissions of planet-warming methane and other harmful pollutants wafting from the nation’s largest oil and gas producing region.

EPA announced Monday that Matador Production Company has agreed to pay $6.2 million in fines and mitigation measures related to 239 oil and gas well pads in New Mexico. Permian Resources Operating agreed earlier this month to pay $610,000 and make improvements to its equipment to settle environmental violations.

The enforcement actions came after EPA flew a helicopter equipped with a special infrared camera that can detect emissions of hydrocarbon vapors that are invisible to the naked eye.

EPA announced a new round of overflights in August, four days after publication of an investigation by The Associated Press that showed 533 oil and gas facilities in the region are emitting excessive amounts of methane and named the companies most responsible.

Colorless and odorless, methane makes up about 95 percent of natural gas and a potent greenhouse pollutant that traps 83 times more heat in the atmosphere over a 20 year period than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.

The AP used 2021 data from the group Carbon Mapper to document massive amounts of methane venting into the atmosphere from “super emitters” across the Permian Basin, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border.

A partnership of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and academic researchers, Carbon Mapper used an airplane carrying an infrared spectrometer to detect and quantify the unique chemical fingerprint of methane in the atmosphere. Hundreds of sites were shown persistently spewing the gas across multiple overflights.

EPA has said the timing of its 2022 overflights was not related to AP’s story and that similar aerial surveillance had been conducted in years past. The federal complaint filed against Matador said unlawful emissions were observed in 2019, while Permian Resources was cited for evidence collected during overflights in 2020.

EPA spokesman Timothy Carroll said federal regulators have initiated additional enforcement actions based on the agency’s 2022 flyover. He declined to provide the number of additional companies currently facing potential sanctions, citing the ongoing investigations.

Methane emissions in themselves are not illegal under current federal law, but the Clean Air Act does regulate other pollutants also contained in the gasses emitted during fossil fuel production, such as volatile organic compounds that contribute to health problems including asthma, lung infections, bronchitis and cancer.

“Air quality in the Permian Basin is at risk of not meeting national standards,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We will continue to work with the State of New Mexico to ensure that oil and gas production operations are operating within the law to improve air quality and public health in surrounding communities.”

EPA said its settlement with Matador will result in a reduction of more than 16,000 tons of air pollutants that are harmful to human health. There will be additional reduction in emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases equal to about 31,000 tons of carbon dioxide — equal to taking more than 6,000 gasoline-powered vehicles off the road for one year.

Emails and a voicemail seeking comment from Matador Resources Company, the Dallas-based corporate parent of Matador Production Company, received no response.

Emails to Permian Resources, based in Midland, Texas, also received no response. The voicemail for a phone number at the company listed for media inquires was not accepting new messages on Tuesday.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler on Monday ridiculed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, saying the proposal raises “significant questions of legality.”

Last week, Newsom signed an executive order directing state regulators to come up with rules that would ban the sale of all new gas-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035. He said the plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35%.

On Monday, Wheeler sent Newsom a letter questioning how the state could add millions of electric vehicles despite having “a record of rolling blackouts.” He said it “begs the question of how you expect to run an electric car fleet that will come with significant increases in electricity demand, when you can’t even keep the lights on today.”

California had its first rolling blackouts in nearly 20 years last month when demand for electricity during a heat wave was so high the state ran out of power. More than half a million homes and businesses lost power for about an hour. The state came close to mandatory power shutoffs a few other times this year, but was able to avoid them.

“The truth it that if the state were driving 100 percent electric vehicles today, the state would be dealing with even worse power shortages than the ones that have already caused a series of otherwise preventable environmental and public health consequences,” Wheeler wrote.

The blackouts in August were complicated by a heat wave that blanketed much of the West, making it more difficult for California to purchase surplus power from other states. Newsom has ordered an investigation of the blackouts and has signed an emergency proclamation allowing more energy users and providers to tap into backup power.

Meanwhile, massive wildfires continue to burn across the state, aided in size and intensity by climate change. Newsom has said the fires have strengthened his resolve to combat climate change.

“While the Trump Administration tries to drive this country off a climate cliff, California is once again assuming the mantle of leadership in the fight against climate change,” said Newsom spokesman Jesse Melgar. “We aren’t going to back down from protecting our kids’ health and the air they breathe.”

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