United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-087
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
svEPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation, WA
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 Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation for a Brownfields Pilot. The
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation was
established in 18 72 by Executive Orderunder President
Ulysses S. Grant. The Colville Reservation is 2,100
square miles, located in isolated north Washington,
near the Canadian border. The reservation is bordered
by the Columbia River on the east and south, the
Okanogan River on the west, and heavily timbered
U.S. Forest Service land on the north. The Tribes
have 8,507members,withmore than 50 percentliving
within reservation boundaries. The community has a
45 percent unemployment rate with 28 percent of the
population living below the poverty line.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Indian
Health Service (IHS) maintained facilities designed
to serve the local population for nearly 100 years. In
1985, BIA and IHS returned these properties to the
Tribes. The Tribes took the property, using some of
the structures for tribal office space and some for
low-income housing; other buildings were left empty
because of severely deteriorating conditions (e.g.,
broken windows, exposed pipes and wires) and have
subsequently been abandoned. The Pilot will target
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: ThePilottargetstwo
formerfederalfacilities.totaling
more than 10Oacres, located
on the Colville Reservation.
Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation, WA
Contacts:
Confederated Tribes of
the Colville Reservation
(509)634-2419
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206)553-6523
Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/cleanup.nsf/webpage/
Brownfields?0pen Document
Forfurtherinformation, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields newsand events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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two brownfields— the 92-acre Agency Headquarters
property and the 20-acre Sub-Agency property—
which both have known or suspected contamination.
OBJECTIVES
The Pilot will enhance the Tribes' ability to strengthen
and advance self-sufficiency and to protectthe human
health of the membership and those that reside within
the reservation boundaries. The Pilotwill investigate
potential environmental hazards at BIA and IHS
facilities and formulate redevelopment plans for the
facilitiesto foster opportunities forthe tribal population.
The Pilot will help quantify known and unknown
potential health and safety issues so a cleanup plan
can be implemented.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as a part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting Phase I environmental assessments
and historical records searches at the targeted
brownfields;
• Conducting Phase II environmental assessments at
the targeted brownfields;
• Developing and implementing a community
involvement plan to ensure meaningful community
input for assessment and cleanup and reuse planning
at the targeted sites;
• Entering the assessment data to the Tribes'
geographic information system (GIS); and
• Designing a comprehensive and sustainable reuse
plan forthe two sites that is consistent with overall
tribal cultural and economic plans.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
May2000
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, WA
EPA 500-F-00-087
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