EPA Launches New Tribal Green Building Toolkit

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the San Francisco-based Tribal Green Building Codes Workgroup announced on Aug. 17 a new toolkit to assist tribes in prioritizing and implementing healthy, green building policies and practices. The Tribal Green Building Codes Workgroup is comprised of representatives of tribal nations and federal agencies.

In the past, traditional tribal buildings were often built based on cultural values and an intimate knowledge of place. The toolkit incorporates the tribal ecological knowledge and priorities into the new building codes and practices. It was developed with tribes to ensure the traditional methods were integrated, but may also be useful to communities working to update or create their green building codes.

“There is a tremendous need for healthy, green, affordable tribal housing — almost 20 percent of tribal households spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest, in a statement.

The new toolkit will help tribal nations to develop more sustainable building strategies to drastically cut utility costs. Tribal nations are not covered by state or local building codes, and in many cases, the tribes do not have building codes or standards in place, which impacts tribal sustainability goals. For instance, the Big Sandy Rancheria Band of the Western Mono Indians received assistance from the EPA and adopted green building codes in 2014.

By implementing the green building codes, the Big Sandy Rancheria Band is able to consistently make more sustainable choices not only with new builds, but also with small renovations and changes. Public and environmental health are now in focus with every design and decision to incorporate renewable energy and sustainable living, said Jaime Collins, environmental programs manager with Big Sandy Rancheria, in a statement. The implementation of the codes has increased awareness of green building choices and priorities and allows the tribe to address a variety of their environmental and cultural concerns.

The new toolkit is much like a detailed how-to guide. It includes checklists designed to identify tribal land use and building priorities and helps develop codes, policies and enforcement strategies to support both cultural priorities and healthy green practices. The toolkit covers subjects such as land use, materials and resource conservation, green manufactured housing, human health hazards, energy efficiency and renewable energy, water access and conservation, and resilience and adaptability.

A number of other tribes are now working with the EPA to incorporate green building codes into their new developments.