United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105) EPA 500-F-01-274 April 2001 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ &EPA EPA Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Ml Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105) Quick Reference Fact Sheet EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, and safely clean up brownfields to promote their sustainable reuse. Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years, with additional funding provided for greenspace) to test assessment models and facilitate coordinated assessment and cleanup efforts at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels; and job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years) to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund program (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to provide financial assistance for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment. BACKGROUND EPA has selected the Keweenaw Bay Indian CommunityforaBrownfieldsAssessmentPilotThe Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which is located in the northwestern region of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, has a membership of 3,267. The unemployment rate in the community is 38 percent. The community is afederally recognized Indian Tribe representing the interests of the L'Anse and Ontonagon Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. The community has targeted Sand Point, a 95-acre waterfront property on the L'Anse Indian Reservation, for this Brownfields Pilot. The community owns Sand Point, which contains about six billion pounds of industrial copper mining sands deposited along a 2.5 mile waterfront of Lake Superior. The sands were discharged into the Lake by a copper stamping mill early in the 20th century, and are suspected to contain copper, lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals. PILOT SNAPSHOT Date of Announcement: April 2001 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot targets a 95-acre waterfront property that is owned by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which suffers from a 38 percent unemployment rate. Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan Contacts: Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (906)524-5757 Regional Brownfields Team U.S. EPA - Region 5 (312)353-0123 Visit the E PA Region 5 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/ Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ ------- OBJECTIVES The community's objective is to transform Sand Point into a recreational park, which will expand the community's growing recreational base. Pilotfunds will be used to research the history of the Sand Point area to determine the nature of the suspected contamination, measure the level of contamination through surveys and sampling, identify options for cleanup and reclamation, and develop a preliminary reclamation plan for recreational development. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Researching the history of the Sand Point area and the adj acent former mill site to guide assessment of possible contamination in the Sand Point area; • Conducting assessments to determine the level of contamination in the Sand Point area; • Identifying options for cleanup and reclamation of the Sand Point area; and • Developing a preliminary reclamation plan for recreational development of the Sand Point area. The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan April 2001 EPA500-F-01-274 ------- |