1. Developing a Voluntary Protocol for Joint State/Tribal/Federal Response to Multi-Jurisdictional Environmental Incidents
September 27, 2016

2. State, Tribal, and Federal environmental and public health agencies all have protocols that guide their individual responses to environmental incidents.
- Protocols vary based on the type of incident and potential environmental impacts
- Incidents involve multiple jurisdictions
- Protocols may differ across jurisdictions
- Communication across jurisdictions can be a challenge
These factors can create unintended or undesirable outcomes in the response to such incidents. Importantly, multi-jurisdictional environmental incidents may involve situations over which more than one agency or governmental entity has legal authority, or which affect the land, water, or air of more than one jurisdiction, or both.

3. Potential Components of Voluntary Joint Response Protocol
Tribes
States
EPA
Inventory, gap analysis, and recommendations for integrating with existing frameworks and protocols
Standardized coordination guidelines
Sequencing
Communications and Messaging Expectations
Recommended methods for conducting root-cause analyses
Post-incident “lessons learned” sessions

4. Potential Partners & Implementation Mechanism
Form an E-Enterprise Project Scoping Team (Potential Partners)
Tribes ?
The E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC) will form an IPT to fully scope this project and clearly articulate the need. The scoping effort will identify ways in which states, tribes and EPA can work together, including in their interactions with each other and with territories and local governments, using joint governance approaches to more efficiently and effectively respond to environmental incidents at large (national) and smaller (interstate) scales.