A Nov. 25-26 BDN commentary by Millinocket Town Manager Eugene Conlogue about the ongoing dispute between some paper companies and three tribal governments caught be my surprise. Our DNR staff has enjoyed a productive working relationship with the fine people who oversee the town’s wastewater treatment plant. This positive collaboration has actually led to a mutually agreed upon process to make some great improvements in the town’s discharge.

I am also dismayed by Conlogue’s lack of understanding of some of the basic facts underlying this entire issue.

It is true the Maine Department of Environmnetal Protection, through an attorney in the Attorney General’s Office, has asked the federal government to allow Maine to have sole permitting authority over all waters in and around tribal lands. The tribes are simply asking that the Environmental Protection Agency retain permitting authority over tribal waters because of the federal government’s responsibility, a responsibility based in constitutional law, to protect tribal natural resources.

The federal permitting cost is zero dollars and the specific permit requirements are usually not much different, nor more burdensome, than those required under a state wastewater discharge license.

We are also very concerned about some cases in the past where Maine has shown a notable lack of enforcement of existing water quality regulations. I need not get into the details concerning the many first hand experiences where Maine has turned its head to look away from known pollution discharge problems.

The “secret agreements” Conlogue refers to are nothing more than government-to-government agreements that most governments have with one another in order to define a working relationship. In fact, Maine DEP has a “Performance Partnership Agreement” or “PPA” with the federal EPA not unlike the tribal-EPA agreements. I’m surprised Conlogue, as a government official, doesn’t understand that these so-called “secret agreements” are commonplace in government administration. I have not been privy to Maine DEP’s current “PPA” so I guess I could call this a “secret agreement,” too. The only real secret here, Conlogue, is the legal bill your townspeople are supporting to chase this ghost.

The U.S. Department of the Interior understands and respects its government-to-government relationship with the Maine tribes, as their recent legal opinion indicates. As a party to the 1980 Lands Claims Settlement Act, the DOI must act in accordance with Federal Indian Law and policy which protect Indian Tribes from illegal intrusion into their internal governmental processes. I would suggest it is Conlogue, not DOI, that should take a closer look at the Settlement Act.

Conlogue’s assertion that the tribes would directly regulate water quality “if the tribes and DOI prevail” is also misleading. The tribes are not asking for authority from EPA to do this. We are simply asking that the existing permitting authority remain as is. More ghosts to chase I suppose.

The tribe’s goal in this issue is to promote the most efficient and effective mechanism to continue the recent progress made in cleaning up our rivers. With the Clean Water Act in 1970 we began the long process of moving toward a time when we may once again enjoy there special gifts without fear of getting sick. We aren’t quite there yet.

I agree with one point made by Conlogue: There is much more to this story.

John S. Banks is the director of Natural Resources for the Penobscot Nation and commissioner for the Maine Indian Tribal/State Commission.