Wyoming Asks EPA To Reconsider Reservation Ruling

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead's administration wants the EPA to freeze implementation of its recent decision that over 1 million acres around Riverton remains legally Indian Country.

Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael wrote yesterday to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking her to reconsider her agency's determination that a 1905 federal law opening part of the Wind River Indian Reservation to settlement by non-Indians didn't extinguish the land's reservation status.

The EPA ruled on the reservation boundary last month when it granted an application from the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes. The tribes had applied to have the reservation treated as a separate state under the federal Clean Air Act.

Wyoming claims the EPA's analysis of area history is flawed. Mead has pledged to challenge the EPA decision in federal court.