3.12.020 Authority

This Code is enacted pursuant to the Tribe's inherent sovereign authority. The Tribe has a primary interest in the protection, control, conservation, and utilization of Reservation Waters, as exemplified in the Bad River Constitution and recognized by EPA when it granted the Tribe's application for treatment-as-state authority to develop and implement the Tribe's Water Quality Standards. The program authority granted by EPA is in addition to the Tribe's historic hunting, fishing, gathering, and usufructuary rights and its treaty rights. This Code shall not be construed to annul those independent Tribal rights, including the right to sufficient quantities and quality of water to support the flora, fauna, and cultural traditions of the Tribe.