Regional Administrator's Letter

Dear Readers,

The world around us is changing. EPA is taking the lead in helping communities develop resiliency by turning challenges into opportunities for innovation and creativity. From renewable power to green infrastructure, EPA is deploying our funding and technical expertise to every corner of the Pacific Southwest.

We are privileged to work with 148 tribes in Arizona, California and Nevada. These sovereign nations are models of resiliency and adaptation. In this time of severe drought we can learn from tribes like the Hopi, who for thousands of years have been dry farming corn without the aid of irrigation. We are also working hard to bring justice to tribes like the Navajo, whose reservation contains hundreds of abandoned uranium mines. This year we secured more than $1 billion from a polluter to clean up 50 of these toxic sites.

I’ve visited 115 tribal communities in our region to meet with tribal elected representatives and see firsthand the amazing work tribes are doing to protect their environment. You’ll find some success stories on the pages that follow, from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s creation of wetlands to protect water quality in the Truckee River, to the Gila River Indian Community’s new waste ordinance, which creates enforceable standards for storage, collection, and disposal of hazardous and solid wastes.

We bring the same focus and energy to challenges throughout the Pacific Southwest – reducing air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, helping water utilities provide safe drinking water while adapting to drought and climate change, responding to toxic emergencies, cleaning up contaminated sites, and supporting zero-waste initiatives and green infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

If you look around at the environmental progress in the Pacific Southwest, I’m sure you’ll agree – together, we’re making a visible difference in our communities.

Jared Blumenfeld
Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region