This week, I sat down with Dr. Dianne Barton, Water Quality Coordinator at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in Portland, Oregon, where she puts her Ph.D. in geochemistry to good use by providing technical expertise related to water quality, environmental toxics, regulatory processes, and the fate and transport of contaminants. Dr. Barton, who is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Chairs the National Tribal Toxics Council (NTTC), which is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - tribal partnership group that provides tribes with opportunities to engage more specifically with EPA on toxics issues. In our conversation, Dr. Barton shares her significant expertise on toxics issues and how the NTTC is engaged with EPA on a wide variety of Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act implementation issues, particularly those affecting tribal communities.