Native community gets Clean Air Award

06/02/2008

Native community gets Clean Air Award 
     The Gila River Indian Community is among 11 national winners in the Environmental Protection Agency's 8th Annual Clean Air Excellence Awards.
     The community's Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Program was named tops in Regulatory/Policy Innovations for developing the first tribal air quality management program. Enacted by the Gila River Indian Community Council in December 2006, the program has been called a national model for tribes.
     According to the EPA, the plan significantly reduces emissions by establishing regulatory requirements for stationary and area sources that didn't exist, and setting up three air-quality monitoring stations in the community, where concentrations of air pollutants are measured for comparison against national standards. The plan also contains a detailed preconstruction permitting program for non-major sources of air pollution that enables the community to regulate the construction and modification of such sources.
     Pat Mariella, director of the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University, was executive director of the community's Department of Environmental Quality when the program was developed.
     "I am thrilled that the department was selected for this national award," Mariella said.
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