United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-182
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Turtle Mountain Community College, Be/court, ND
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, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; 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 programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans 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 Turtle Mountain Community
College for a Brownfields Job Training and
Development Demonstration Pilot. The Turtle
Mountain Community College's assessment pilot
partner is the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
Indians. The Job Training Pilot will focus on the
15,000 enrolled Tribal members residing in Rolette
County, which is the Turtle Mountain Reservation's
resident county and is located in north-central North
Dakota. Tribal unemployment on the reservation is 5 7
percent. The Tribe and county applied for USDA
designation as a Rural Enterprise Community in 1998.
Although unsuccessful, the application process resulted
in creation of a 10-year strategic plan for the area and
designation as a Champion Community. The U.S.
Department of Commerce has classified the area as
an Underutilized Business Zone.
The Tribe' s Brownfields Assessment Pilot is targeting
the abandoned San Haven facility, a former State
mental rehabilitation hospital bought by the Tribe in
1992. The Tribe is planning to assess the property for
contaminants and redevelop the site into a tourism
office and natural history park. The Tribe is in the
process of leveraging funds from several sources to
cleanup and redevelop the site, which would stimulate
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Be/court, North
Dakota
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train low-
income or very-low-income
participants as environmental
technicians and provide continuing
career support for three years to
graduates. Students will be recruited
from the Turtle Mountain Band of
Chippewa, whoareactively pursuing
cleanup and redevelopment of
reservation properties toalleviate the
Tribe's 57 percent unemployment
rate.
Contacts:
Turtle Mountain Community
College
(701)477-0470
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 8
(303)312-6803
Visit the E PA Region 8 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region08/land waste/bfhome/
bfhome.html
Forfurtherinformation,includingspecific 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/
-------
the local economy and gain back the 200 jobs lost
when the facility was closed. These sources include
a $350,000 Imminent Threat Grant from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), $400,000 from an Indian Community
Development Block Grant, and redevelopment
planning funds from U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. In addition to the San Haven property,
Tribal landfills, vacant buildings, and unregulated
open garbage pits present risks of hazardous material
contamination. There are no other job training
programs for hazardous materials handling in the
area. The Job Training Pilot would enable tribal
members to gain livable wage employment in
environmentally related j obs.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The Turtle Mountain Community College plans to
train low-income or very-low-income Tribal
participants, achieve a 100 percent placement rate,
and support career placement of graduates for three
years after the training is completed. The Pilottraining
program will consist of one year of prerequisite
courses required by the North Central College
Accreditation Standards for certificate programs,
followed by one year of environmental technician
training, including OSHA 40-hour health and safety,
lead and asbestos abatement, hazardous materials
handling, and training in the use of innovative
assessment and cleanup technologies.
The Turtle Mountain Community College'straining
efforts will be supported by organizations such as the
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, North
Dakota Job Service, Tribal Work Experience Program,
Turtle Mountain New Jobs Program, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, HUD, and Tribal Job Training
Partnership Act Program. The Tribal Employee Rights
Ordinance (TERO) requires environmental
contractors to hire local individuals. The Tribe and
Roulette county are working together to reapply for a
federal Enterprise Community/Empowerment Zone
designation.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit low-income orvery-
low-income Tribal members;
• Conducting brownfieldstechniciantraining,including
courses in the use of innovative assessment and
cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students for three
years after the job training is completed.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot
May2000
Turtle Mountain Community College, Be/court, North Dakota
EPA500-F-00-182
------- |