Life at EPA

Shana Greenberg
Attorney/Advisor

As a Mono Indian and Chicanna originally from California, my heritage has led me to help train Agency employees so that they work effectively with Tribal Governments. I work as an attorney/advisor, enforcing the chemical, pesticide and community right-to-know laws for the Agency. My career at EPA began seven years ago. My academic background is in Indian Law and Policy, with a specific focus on environmental issues on tribal lands. I graduated from Arizona State Law School in 1994 and received my undergraduate degree in Psychology from California State University Long Beach.

Most days I prepare enforcement documents and draft letters to opposing counsels to gather information or evidence. We settle most cases before going to hearing. I also spend time creating enforcement policies with various workgroups and reviewing rules that are being drafted to make sure they are enforceable. Finally, I work on issues relating to American Indian employment. We raise issues to help managers eliminate barriers to the employment, promotion and retention of American Indians.

I approached EPA because I wanted to work on tribal issues and environmental issues. I have always felt that we needed to be more aggressive in working on enforcement issues in Indian Country. I stay where I am because I have fantastic managers who give me guidance and support my career. They allow us to balance our careers, mental and physical health, and our family life. I am also learning useful skills that I can one day take back to help Indian Country enforce their own environmental laws within their own jurisdictions.

One of my best memories is something that happened before I was hired at EPA. An EPA representative, who is now my manager, called me on his cell phone from Wisconsin where some Tribal issues were going on. Specifically, there were protests against EPA by the Indian community. They were singing traditional songs, accompanied by a drum as part of a social gathering that brought the community together. Later, after being hired by EPA, my manager recalled the events and the fact that they were "drumming at EPA." I laughed and told him that they were probably singing him a song of honoring. I took it as a wonderful opportunity to teach an EPA manager about our social structure and events. The best thing about EPA is that our managers are open-minded and we, as American Indians, can take these opportunities to educate our managers.