PLEASANT POINT – They are determined to maintain their sovereignty, and, although they may face jail, the governors and chiefs of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation say they will continue to resist efforts by outsiders to erode their tribal rights.

On Friday, tribal governors and chiefs from the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe, as well as the Aroostook Band of the Micmac and Houlton Band of the Maliseet, met with Gov. Angus King.

The encounter took place during a meeting of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. The commission is an intergovernmental entity created by the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act.

The commission is charged with the responsibility of reviewing the effectiveness of the settlement act, making recommendations about the acquisition of tribal land, promulgating fishing rules and making recommendations about fish and wildlife management policies.

The host of the meeting was Pleasant Point tribal Gov. Rick Doyle and it included Passamaquoddy state tribal Rep. Donald Soctomah, Barry Dana, chief of the Penobscot Nation, Brenda Commander, chief of the Houlton Band of the Maliseets and William Phillips, chief of the Aroostook Band of the Micmac.

A number of issues were discussed, and the lawsuit that threatens the tribes’ sovereignty was an important topic.

In November the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the two tribes over a dispute with some of the state’s paper companies about water-quality regulations.

The case emerged from several intertwined issues. The Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe contend that as sovereign entities, they are not subject to the state’s Freedom of Access Act, and therefore do not have to share with the companies water-quality documents the tribes have produced.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal – without comment – to hear the case, effectively ended the yearlong legal battle over what tribal papers constitute “internal documents” that don’t have to be made public. The refusal was just one more legal stumbling block in a battle that so far has gone in favor of the paper companies.

The case arose last year, when three paper companies asked the tribes for all of their documents relating to water-quality regulation. The companies made the request after the tribes contested the state’s application to the U.S. government to issue federal wastewater discharge permits.

The case originally involved Champion International Corp., Great Northern Paper Co. and Georgia-Pacific Corp.

Champion merged with International Paper Co. last year, and IP dropped out of the dispute more than a month ago because its Bucksport mill is downstream from the area in dispute. Georgia-Pacific Corp. since has sold its Washington County mill to the Montreal-based Domtar Inc.

There also is a dispute over whether the federal or state government should regulate water quality in tribal lands.

The fight began when the state asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for sole authority to issue wastewater discharge licenses under the federal Clean Water Act. The tribes wanted the EPA to retain permitting authority in tribal lands, because, they said, the state was too “beholden” to paper companies.

Earlier this year, the EPA granted the state full permitting authority in most areas of Maine. The agency deferred a decision on who should issue the permits to the tribes and has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to review the matter.

The fight is also about the meaning of the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. Under the act, the paper companies argued, the tribes are to be treated as municipalities and must make the vast majority of their documents available to the public. The tribe argued that regulating water quality is an internal tribal matter and not subject to review by outsiders.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that in most instances, tribal government is to be treated like a municipal government and that most of the documents requested by the paper companies must be turned over.

On Friday, Dana and Doyle maintained that the tribes are not municipalities and should not be treated as such. Doyle said he had been elected by the Passamaquoddy to uphold its laws and would continue to resist any effort by outside forces to erode those laws.

Dana said he believed the problem erupted because of the various interpretations of the wording of the settlement act. “We tried to understand the wording ourselves, so we brought together our past negotiators. We wanted to get a feel for their mind-set at the time.” Dana said the past negotiators unanimously agreed that the settlement act “strengthened [the tribes’] sovereignty.”

Although King said the state courts had spoken and the law had to be enforced, the tribal leaders reiterated their belief that the Freedom of Access Act should not be forced upon them.

The tribal leaders agreed that they would like to continue a dialogue with the state to avoid similar issues in the future.