Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

This underground storage tank was extracted at the Chilocco Indian School north of Ponca City. This is one of four tanks that were removed, which was made possible through funding by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and project coordination by the Inter-Tribal Environmental Council (ITEC). Five Tribes benefited from this project and have controlling interest in Chilocco Indian School: the Kaw, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca, and Tonkawa Tribes.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - In the last three years, the Cherokee Nation has helped bring in nearly $500,000 in grants to assist more than 15 tribes in making underground storage tanks on tribally owned lands as safe as possible.

The Cherokee Nation’s Office of Environmental Services manages a United States Environmental Protection Agency underground storage tank program for the Inter-Tribal Environmental Council (ITEC), a coalition of 32 tribes working together on environmental issues.

In 1998, ITEC received funding from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) to upgrade and remove underground storage tanks (USTs) located on tribal land. Five tribes participated in the project amounting to $127,307.00 in federal funds for the project’s first year. The second year of the upgrade and removal project resulted in $165,234.00 from both ANA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in which eight tribes participated. In 2001, ITEC applied for an additional $177,165.00 in order to complete the UST upgrades and removals. Fifteen tribes participated in this year’s grant opportunity, bringing the ITEC tribes another step closer to their goals.

ITEC has looked for ways to obtain funds for improving the tribe's UST compliance. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VI, UST Program has worked with ITEC by providing technical support, project oversight and UST program support.

The EPA is currently aiding ITEC in the development of an UST educational program. This program will educate UST owners and operators about the vital components of UST compliance.

Future aspects of ITEC’s UST program may also include a tribal UST voluntary compliance program and insurance fund. For more details about ITEC’s UST Program contact Bobby Short, phone: 918-458-5496 or send an e-mail.