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/
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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
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