EPA grants Stitt request for state oversight on tribal lands

(AP) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a request from Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s administration to allow the state, not tribal nations, to regulate environmental issues in Indian Country. Stitt requested the authority in July, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains a Muscogee (Creek) Nation Indian reservation. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler approved the state’s request on Oct. 1. It applies to more than two dozen federal environmental programs overseen by several state agencies. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. called the decision a “knee-jerk reaction to curtail tribal jurisdiction.“