EPA and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Sign Agreement to Guide Environmental Protection on Tribal Lands
NEW YORK – This week, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe (SRMT) signed a Performance Partnership Agreement (PPA) to memorializes the trust relationship between EPA and the Tribe while ensuring the continuation of the SRMT’s wide-reaching environmental programs. The PPA is accompanied by a Performance Partnership Grant (PPG) of over $11 million. The PPA lays out the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s environmental priorities and short- and long-term strategies to address them. This is the only such PPA that EPA has with any Indian Nation. The agreement is the sixth such agreement that EPA has had over the years with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. It covers 16 critical environmental and stewardship programs.
“I am proud to continue the amazing relationship between the EPA and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and to ensure the continued success of their many impressive environmental programs,” said EPA Regional Administrator Michael Martucci. “I was honored to stand with three Chiefs of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe as we sign this agreement that will strengthen our bonds of mutual respect and professional collaboration to help ensure a bright future for the Tribe’s future generations.”
“The SRMT Tribal Council acknowledges the many Tribal members who have led environmental initiatives at Akwesasne to get us to this moment,” said Tribal Council. “We greatly value and appreciate the continuing partnership with the EPA, which has been vitally important in helping to ensure a better tomorrow for our community.”
The PPA covers a wide range of programs, including air quality, Superfund oversight, water quality, hazardous materials spill response, solid waste management, environmental assessment, pesticide, and agriculture programs. The agreement includes a work plan that the Tribe will use to accomplish its environmental goals including improve environmental quality, enhance natural resources, and protect human health from chemical contamination exposures in air, water, soil, and cultural resources. In it are also performance measures to ensure goals are met, including regular interactions between the SRMT’s environmental experts and EPA experts. The Tribe and EPA will ensure that evaluations are performed formally during a scheduled meeting twice a year. SRMT will provide written status reports to the appropriate EPA staff before each meeting. The agreement and grant are in effect from January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2030.
For more information about performance partnership agreements and grants visit EPA’s National Performance Partnership System webpage.
Background:
Performance Partnership Agreements Overview
EPA, states, and Tribes share responsibility for protecting human health and the environment. The unique relationship between EPA, states, and Tribes is the cornerstone of the nation's environmental protection system. Working together, EPA, states, and Tribes have made enormous progress protecting our air, water, and land resources. The National Environmental Performance Partnership System (NEPPS) was established in 1995 as a performance-based system of environmental protection designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of EPA partnerships with states, territories, and Tribes. By focusing resources on the most pressing environmental problems and taking advantage of the unique capacities of each partner, performance partnerships can help achieve the greatest environmental and human health protection.
Performance Partnership Agreements and Grants
One of the main ways EPA, states, and Tribes implement performance partnerships is by negotiating PPAs. These agreements set out jointly developed priorities and protection strategies and how EPA and the state or Tribe will work together to address priority needs. States and Tribes can also choose to combine funds from multiple federal environmental program grants into PPGs which allow them to direct resources where they are needed most or try innovative solutions to environmental problems.
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