MITSC has recently completed and published a new special report, Sea Run, which addresses the impact of Maine policies and activity on the quality and quantity of traditional tribal fish stocks and sustenance lifeways practices, spanning from the time of first contact between Europeans and the Wabanaki Nations to the present day. This report provides a broad overview of actions and inactions by the State of Maine, whether those actions/inactions were based on express policy, informal policy, or on decisions simply not to have any policy at all. The report includes specific recommendations for implementation that are intended to promote discussion and cooperative action.

Combined document including 1/30/15 letter from US Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins to EPA General Counsel Avi Garbow; Responses to Public Comments Relating to ME's January 14, 2013 Submission to EPA for Approval of Certain of the State's New and Revised Water Quality Standards (WQS) That Would Apply in Waters Throughout Maine, Including Within Indian Territories or Lands; 2/2/15 letter from EPA Region I Administrator H. Curtis Spalding to Maine DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho; & Analysis Supporting EPA's February 2, 2015 Decision to Approve, Disapprove, and Make No Decision on, Various Maine Water Quality Standards, Including Those Applied to Waters of Indian Lands in Maine

The policy position statement adopted by MITSC at its October 17, 2012 meeting concerning the restoration of river herring in the St. Croix Watershed.

On July 9, 2012, Stephen Perkins, Director, Office of Ecosystem Protection, US Environmental Protection Agency Region I, wrote to William Schneider, Maine Attorney General. The EPA found 12 MRSA §6134(2), the law passed by Maine in 1995 to block river herring passage on the St. Croix River, in noncompliance with the overall water quality standards set by Maine for that stretch of river which must support naturally occurring species. EPA concluded its letter by stating, “To address EPA’s disapproval and protect designated and existing uses, Maine should take appropriate action to authorize passage of river herring to the portions of the St. Croix River above the Grand Falls Dam.”

The MITSC analysis of LD 72 An Act To Open the St. Croix River to River Herring, LD 584 An Act To Provide for Passage of River Herring on the St. Croix River in Accordance with an Adaptive Management Plan, and LD 748 An Act Regarding the Passage of River Herring on the St. Croix River.