Tribe Wants Its Own Controls

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe wants the right regulate metals levels in its waters.

The tribe has filed for independent authority to draft its own metals limits, known as total maximum daily loads or TMDLs. A judge last year returned ownership of the lower third of Lake Coeur d’Alene to the tribe.

Until a decision is made, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is serving as the pollution authority in tribal waters. Tribal staffer Jack Gunnermen said the Coeur d’Alenes support the EPA’s role in setting limits after rejecting Idaho’s TMDLs last year.

The tribe “has done numerous studies in the basin to support the fact that water quality is severely impaired,” Gunnermen said, listing tests on fish, sediment and waterfowl.

He said the tribe “is very concerned” about metals levels in water entering the lake from the Coeur d’Alene River.