DO YOU HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLAINT? 

A complaint is defined as information provided to CNEP alleging site-specific environmental pollution. To file a complaint, you can call the CNEP Environmental Complaints Hotline, at (918)453-5009. Or, if you would like to file an environmental complaint electronically, you can use the online form to e-mail a complaint to CNEP.

COMPLAINT INVESTIGATIONS

Complaint investigations are an important tool for achieving compliance with environmental regulations. It is one of the primary methods used to discover environmental pollution. All of the complaints no matter if the source is by website, email, phone or in person are handled by the CNEP Manager. The complaint hotline is monitored daily and after hour calls are returned the next business day or rolled over to appropriate staff on weekends and holidays.

It is anticipated that many of the calls and inquiries received will just be requests for information or general questions and some will be transferred to other Tribal or governmental agencies. The remaining calls or messages will be complaints or investigations that CNEP will distribute for environmental investigations to appropriate staff or person’s on the Tribal contact listing. These complaints will be worked under a timeline to assure compliance with all environmental laws and the rules of the Cherokee Nation.

It is assumed that the majority of complaints will be concerning solid waste dumping and surfacing sewage from on-site sewage treatment systems. Working these types of complaints to a solution is an important measure of CNEP’s effectiveness at protecting the Cherokee Nation’s environment.

CNEP’s environmental manager plans to conduct a survey at least monthly of the accumulated environmental complaints/concerns and make sure that the issues have satisfactorily investigated to a conclusion that works for both the complainant and the responsible party. Complaints/concerns that are open or not complete will be re-routed to an environmental specialist or a department contact on the Cherokee Nation’s contact listing.

For CNEP to adequately address your complaint, we need for you to provide us with certain specific information. Please describe your complaint in as much detail as possible, including information about when you first noticed the problem, how often it occurs, who is responsible, and specifically where the problem is located. Please provide an address for the complaint site. If you do not have an address, provide detailed finding directions to the complaint site beginning at a nearby major intersection. Be sure the finding directions are complete.

You are not required to leave your name, address and phone number if you would rather not.If you prefer, you can leave your name, address and phone number and we will keep it confidential.This means that information will not be released to anyone, except our investigators. This will enable our investigators to contact you for additional facts and provide you feedback on the investigation.If this is your preference, check the box left of Confidential on the form below.If you do not wish to be anonymous and do not care if your information is kept confidential, simply complete the section titled Complainant Information.

Once you have completed the above form, you can forward your complaint to us electronically, by fax, or mail.If you prefer, feel free to contact us at 1-918-453-5009.

Cherokee Nation Environmental Programs

  206 E. Allen Rd. Tahlequah, Ok. 74464

                swest@cherokee.org

When we receive your complaint, it will be entered into our system and, if you left your email, name and a phone number, the investigator will be contacting you soon.

First, you will receive an email confirmation with a complaint number and contact number if you have questions.

Fifteen days after receipt of the complaint, you will receive an e-mail or letter listing the Tribal, state or local agency looking into your concern.

Once the department or investigator assigned to your complaint has completed its review and “closed” the complaint, you will receive an email or letter notifying notifying you that the complaint is closed. This email or letter will list the agencies that handled your concern and their contact information.