A bill working its way through the state Legislature would remove tribes from the official environmental policy-making process — something one eastern Oklahoma tribe isn't happy about.

Sen. Greg Treat, who authored the bill, said it would do “nothing to prohibit the tribes from having input in environmental policies,” though.

“It just acknowledges what is already in federal law — that the state of Oklahoma has priority in setting environmental policy that impacts Oklahomans and Oklahoma energy producers and energy transmitters,” Treat said. “The law still allows consultation, it just does not allow tribal laws to be considered by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to increase cost on ratepayers, or tribes to block the construction or upgrades to a refinery.”

The Oklahoma City-based senator says the Environmental Protection Agency, which he accused of having a “liberal agenda,” often will deal directly with the dozens of tribes in Oklahoma, essentially “backdooring” clean air standards and injection well regulations, among other things.