Listening to Tribes and understanding Tribal priorities drives our programs and services we offer.

About ITEP

> Chris Lee

Chris Lee
Manager

Chris Lee

After a long search, ITEP recently hired Chris Lee to serve as Manager of the TAMS Center in Las Vegas alongside EPA-TAMS Co-Director, Farshid Farsi. Chris, a member of the Dine Nation, comes to us from Oglala Lakota College in Kyle, South Dakota, where he served as an instructor and Site Director for NASA’s Science, Engineering, Math, and Aerospace Academy.

Chris graduated from Northern Arizona University in 1999 in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Applied Geology. During his time at NAU he first experienced tribal environmental program work as an ITEP intern. During his internship, he was placed with the Pueblo of San Juan to assist them in their 103 air-program development; he also performed monitoring work with the All-Indian Pueblo Council. Over the years in his work with both the Navajo Nation and the Southern Ute tribe, Chris has been involved in PM and gaseous monitoring, Title V work, air-code development, grant-funding activities, and a host of other air-program efforts.

Chris says of his new role at TAMS, “I have the unique experience of having worked at the tribal program level, and now I’ll be providing assistance to tribes, often on projects involving limited funding and limited technical knowledge. I think I’ll be able to use my experience to assist tribes in these kinds of projects, and if it’s not possible to take projects on in conventional ways then to look at alternative routes. That’s been my experience; for example, the process of obtaining Title V delegation authority was a black and white, straightforward process, but the route to get there wasn’t black and white at all. I believe with my experience, I’ll be able to help tribes to get things done.”

Chris can be reached by e-mail at Christopher.Lee@nau.edu.

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Rebecca Stevens

Chair

Coeur d’Alene Tribe – Idaho

Program Manager/Restoration Coordinator
Working with the Tribe since: 2005

Rebecca is the Program Manager for the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department-Hazardous Waste Management Program. She also serves the role as the Restoration Coordinator with the Restoration Partnership. Rebecca has been working on water quality related issues for over 19 years. She represents the Tribe in the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site working with EPA while implementing their remedy for the Basin. She is also the Tribe’s Restoration Coordinator for the Restoration Partnership for which all Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) claims have been settled and on the ground restoration work has been underway since 2019. Rebecca continues to work with other Tribes on NRDA issues while coordinating with the US DOI, USDA, and the State of Idaho.

Rebecca is a proud member of the Tribal Waste and Response Steering Committee where she also serves on the Tribal Superfund Work Group and Advisory Council. Rebecca enjoys x-country skiing in the winter, summertime water sports, Frisbee golf, and spending time with her friends, family, and blue heeler. Rebecca is very honored to work for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and is proud to be a part of restoring natural resources in the Coeur d’Alene Basin.

Rebecca can be reached by e-mail at rstevens@cdatribe-nsn.gov.

National Tribal Forum on Air Quality

The National Tribal Forum on Air Quality (NTFAQ) aims to support tribal programs by fostering information-sharing and networking opportunities that are focused on building tribal capacity in air quality management. The event’s agenda is driven by tribal input and priorities, with a focus on increasing tribal engagement in air quality initiatives that are relevant to tribal communities across the nation.