Brownfields 2002 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan
EPA Brownfields Initiative
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states.
communities, and other stakeholders to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into
law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA
provides financial assistance to eligible applicants
through four competitive grant programs: assessment
grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and
job training grants. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through a
separate mechanism.
Background
EPA has selected the Little River Band of Ottawa
Indians for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The tribe
also was selected to receive additional funding for
assessments at brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. The tribe's existing reservation
consists of two settlements in Custer and Eden
Townships, and roughly 70,000 acres located in southern
Manistee County, Michigan. For this Pilot, the tribe has
targeted the 32-acre Manistee Forge Corporation East
Lake plant site, which the tribe purchased in 1998 after
conducting a partial environmental assessment. That
assessment found soil contamination and indicated the
potential presence of a mixture of metals, petroleum
products, and lubricants as well as chemicals associated
with the production of salt and bromide products. In the
past century, the site has been used for a number of
industrial purposes, including a lumber mill, salt and
chemical operations, metal forging, hydraulic lift
manufacturing, and fiberglass fabrication.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/01/2002
Amount: $200,000
$50,000 for Greenspace
Profile: Little River Band of Ottawa Indians,
Michigan. The Pilot targets a former industrial site
for redevelopment into housing for tribal members, a
marina, and a manufactured home construction
business.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit the
EPA Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
(312)886-7576
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Little River Band of Ottawa
Indians,MI
(231)398-6842
Objectives
The tribe's objective is to assess the Manistee Forge site
so that it can be transformed into a site for housing
constructed for tribal families and a marina. The large
manufacturing building already on the site will be used
to construct manufactured homes. The tribe will also
assess an 85-acre parcel for use as a park and
recreational land. As part of this objective, the Pilot will
define the contamination at the target sites and develop
cleanup and reuse plans.
Activities
The economic base of the community eroded with
closure and relocation of the lumbering and salt mining
industries. About 1,200 of the 2,728-member Little River Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
Band currently reside in the local area. Approximately 41
percent of local tribe members live in households with
incomes below the poverty rate and about 60 percent of
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• Conducting environmental site assessments of
the two sites; and
• Preparing cleanup and/or due care plans.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-02-062
May 02
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economic decline of the area, the tribe has expanded
local employment opportunities, but new housing and Th& cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet
jobs that the redeveloped brownfields site would provide been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this
are needed as more tribal members return to the ^act sheet are subject to change.
reserva ion. jj^ information presented in this fact sheet comes from
the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of
this information. The cooperative agreement for the
grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities
described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
United States Q ., . ,A/__t,.
Environmental andldEmSency EPA *******
Protection Agency ResDonse(51oVn May 02
Washington, DC 20450 Kesponse (bl Ob I)
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