Brownfields Update for the Pacific Northwest

In the world of brownfields, perhaps no better redevelopment projects cry out in need than on the country’s tribal lands.

Many tribal lands, usually rural developments with small populations that have high poverty and unemployment rates, have some very large environmental problems. Take the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation in north central Washington.

The tribes there gained ownership in 1979 of a former mill site. It was converted to the Inchelium Wood Treatment Plant in 1985. The plant treated posts and poles with chromated copper arsenate (CCA). The list of contaminates on the 40-acre site now runs long: lead, arsenic, chromium, copper, and diesel and heavy-oil range petroleum hydrocarbons. Contamination has been found in the soils and groundwater.

Still, the project has hit a standstill. Don Hurst, toxics cleanup manager for the Colville reservation, says its EPA funding is in “eligibility purgatory.” While the tribe has a strong land base, it isn’t a person under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), he says. The toxics cleanup program hasn’t been able to move forward on this project because of eligibility issues.

On tribal lands, a piece of property could mean anywhere from one to 500, or more, landowners, explains Ryan Rossi, an environmental scientist in the Environmental Waste Management program for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in southeastern Idaho.

The question of ownership is just one of many hurdles that pop up when tribes become involved in brownfields redevelopment. And EPA Region 10 knows better than any other region what those hurdles are. The region has more federally recognized tribes than any other EPA region in the United States. No one even comes close. Region 10 has 271 tribes: Idaho has four, Oregon nine, Washington 29 and Alaska 229.

Tribes bring sovereign governments, cultural concerns and, often times, subsistence issues to the brownfields table. All may influence the type of redevelopment that’s needed. It also may be more difficult to get brownfields information out on tribal lands, which are nearly always rural, or even remote as in the case of Alaska.

Ellen Simeonoff, environmental program director for the Woody Island Tribal Council in Alaska, sees tribes having jurisdiction and coordination issues that prevent brownfields work from being completed. In Alaska, reservations have a tribal government and village corporations. The tribal government usually has no land ownership. When the tribal government and corresponding corporation don’t get along, problems arise, Simeonoff says. A breakdown in relations has left the Woody Island tribal government with no land access one year into its brownfields program.

Meanwhile, her department has identified several brownfields sites, including abandoned military buildings, abandoned fuel tanks, community dumps and a satellite tracking station with contaminated oil under its building pad. These sites have much tourism potential because of their attractive fishing and hunting opportunities. You’re not looking at setting up a big box store, Simeonoff says. Instead, the tribal government would like to see more green space or recreational land.

“It’s an easy place to envision the tremendous amount of possibilities,” she says. Still, no cleanup will happen until the tribal government gains access to the land again.

Balancing those lines of communication and cooperation can be difficult when you have more than one agency involved. In Alaska, tribes aren’t eligible for direct brownfield assessment or cleanup grants. This makes that relationship between the tribe, its corporation and city government especially important.

“The brownfields program is suitable for tribes; I think it’s highly compatible,” Simeonoff explains. “But you have to have a cooperative corporation. We don’t have that right now.”

When projects are identified, the question of what is going to be developed comes into play. Or, a tribe may oppose development all together. Green space is an important issue for many tribes that have a strong appreciation for the environment, says Kelly Wright, the Environmental Waste Management program manager for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

A developer who wants to work with the tribes is going to have to be patient, Rossi says. There may be unique zoning restrictions or other tribal issues, he says. For example, many tribes have high unemployment rates and want development that will support their employment laws, which includes hiring tribal employees.

And a developer can’t come into a tribal community and force an idea upon the people there, Wright says. Tribal communities want to be involved in the process. Both sides will have to show some flexibility, and a developer may appreciate a proactive community, he says.

There are numerous brownfields that are easier to move forward than one on a reservation, Hurst says. He hopes Congress approves the CERCLA brownfields funding long enough for it to trickle down to the reservations and make some real headway. This is an outstanding opportunity for tribes, he says. While the way the brownfields program was conceived may make for a difficult path on a reservation, it really is just a different path the tribes must take, he says.