Brownfields
Success Story
EPA Grant Recipients:
Fort Peck Assiniboine and
Sioux Tribes
EPA Grant:
Brownfields Cleanup Grant
Former Use:
Airfield
Current Uses:
Residential, Recreational,
Transportation Operations
The former Fort Peck airfield was
contaminated by petroleum that had
leaked from underground storage tanks
and from runoff associated with jet-
fueling activities.
Making Things Right at a
Former Airfield
Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana
Poplar is a city in the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeast
Montana with a population of just over 800, The former Fort Peck
airfield, located in Poplar, was used by local farmers for fueling, loading
and storing crop-dusting planes and later operated as a county
airport for 40 years. Upon the airfield's closure in 2011, contamination
remained and prevented the reuse of the site. Petroleum had leaked
into the subsurface from underground storage tanks and from runoff
associated with jet-fueling activities.
After the airfield closed, the site was largely unused until a group
of tribal stakeholders, federal partners and a nonprofit organization
collaborated to build a sustainable village there, revitalizing
the community, improving housing and furthering economic
development in Poplar
The Opportunity
Leadership from local Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes worked with the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Program
and the Make It Right Foundation, a nonprofit organization that builds
energy-efficient homes for low-income families, to develop the village.
Wilfred Lambert, Brownfields coordinator for the Fort Peck Office of
Environmental Protection, a division of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and
Sioux Tribes, says the project was slow to start but gained momentum
quickly once a plan was in place.
"The Tribes had no zoning ordinances to follow," he says, "and we
needed to decide what level of remediation would be necessary
to build on the site. Once we decided on the houses, where they
would go, where the roads would go, where the Indian Reservation
Roads Department would go—things went a lot easier." (The Indian
Reservation Roads [IRR] Department now uses a portion of the site
for its offices, storage and vehicles.)
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

-------
The Make It Right Foundation built
20 high-efficiency homes at the
former airfield.
The Cleanup
Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments were conducted in
compliance with the All Appropriate Inquiries rule to obtain protection
from potential liability for any contamination at the site. The assessments
revealed that the site contained hazardous substances, including
herbicides, insecticides, petroleum products, and miscellaneous oils,
cleaning solvents and lubricants. Soil samples that were collected from
the bottom of the excavation—where two underground storage tanks
had been—exceeded regulatory standards for the presence of hazardous
materials. Lead-based paint was also identified on the exterior surfaces of
a former schoolhouse on the site and in the soil surrounding the building.
EPA awarded the Tribes a $200,000 Cleanup Grant to remediate the
contamination, which included:
Removing gasoline-impacted soils from the former storage tank basin
Landfarming contaminated soils at a nearby landfill and periodically
turning them over to aerate the mixture
Removing and disposing of lead-impacted and pesticide-
contaminated soils
Collecting and testing soil samples in each soil removal area
The Redevelopment
The Make It Right Foundation built 20 L.EED Platinum single-family homes
for low-income families at the site. EPA worked with the Department
of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to assess the
performance of these high-standard buildings.
Tim Rehder, who works in the EPA Region 8 Brownfields Program, helped
implement the study. "We compared the energy performance of the
Make It Right homes to other residential buildings in the area," he says.
"Then we used energy modeling to estimate what improvements could be
made to increase energy savings—like a higher graded window or more
insulation in the attic."
The homes were performing well overall, despite some gaps in the
insulation in a few of them. EPA recommended that the tribes continue to
conduct periodic energy audits to ensure efficiency.
The Benefits
The sustainable village development brought jobs, housing for low-income
families and opportunity for Poplar residents. "We used our iRR to build
roads and infrastructure and connect water," says Lambert. "Make It Right
was required to hire local contractors through our Tribal Employment
Rights Office for all the groundwork and infrastructure on-site."
The Tribes also built greenhouses and outdoor basketball courts on-site,
and they are planning to build a wellness center there soon. The center
will have healthcare facilities, a swimming pool, basketball courts, space
for weightlifting and running, and other amenities for the community.
"There's lots of activity at the former airfield now," Lambert says. "I wasn't
eligible to live in the new homes there, but I would if I could. They are all
state of the art."
£i
A lot of people came
together to reduce blight
and make the community
a cleaner and safer place
to live.
—Wilfred Lambert,
Brownfields Coordinator.
Fort Peck Office of
Environmental Protection
For more information: Visit
the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or
contact Greg Davis at 303-312-6314
or Davis.Gregory@epa.gov.
EPA-56Q-F-19-16S
June 2019

-------