The Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR) Department’s ongoing and recent initiatives on and for the Reservation are: to complete an in-depth characterization and environmental inventory; to complete the inventory and mapping of oil and gas related environmental contamination; to develop an oil and saltwater pollution prevention outreach program; to develop an environmental complaints/investigations program; to develop a surface water quality monitoring program; to develop a solid waste management plan; to develop an emergency response program; to develop the environmental regulatory infrastructure necessary to assist with environmental compliance; and to develop a natural resource inventory and management plan.  

 

Our Department faces many challenges every year in securing funding for each year; making sure that we meet our commitments to the funding agencies; attending to the numerous requests of agencies, businesses, and individuals doing business with the Tribe; fighting political battles where those battles might make a difference; and trying to protect the environment along the way. Our department stays busy but we enjoy it that way.  

 

The Department plans to finish the assessment/characterization of the Osage Reservation as well as assuming regulatory authority from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the Osage Underground Injection Control Program; to develop water quality standards for the Osage Reservation; to develop an NPDES Program and assume regulatory authority for the program by applying for TAS and Program Authorization; and to develop the Natural Resource regulatory infrastructure necessary to protect natural resources.