Brownfields Update for the Pacific Northwest

The Alaska Brownfields Tribal Response Program (TRP) has been especially helpful to the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. Tribal members created their Brownfields program in 2008 to address health concerns related to chemical contamination and its effect on their subsistence lifestyle. Actions they have taken to date illustrate the versatility of TRPs in helping   communities deal with concerns related to environmental contamination.

The Village of Yakutat lies on the northern end of the Alaska Panhandle. Approximately half of the nearly 800 residents are members of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. The U.S. military has been a presence in Yakutat and the Phipps Peninsula since the 1920s. As many as 45,000 troops were stationed in the area during World War II. Military installations have included air, naval, and communications facilities. In the course of their operations, the military handled and disposed of fuels, hazardous substances and solid waste. As the military operations were closed over the years, they left behind abandoned buildings and other structures. The land formerly occupied by the military was transferred to other federal agencies or turned over to the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has conducted cleanups at former military sites in Yakutat and is presently doing remedial investigations at others under the Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program. The Tribe also is conducting cleanups and removal actions under the U.S. Department of Defense Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program (NALEMP).

The USACE’s investigations have revealed dioxins in soils, sediments, and shellfish in and around the Ankau Saltchucks, an inland saltwater body on the Phipps Peninsula that lies west of Yakutat. The Saltchucks provide about 30 percent of the Tribe’s food supply, raising concerns about the presence of dioxins and other contaminants in the aquatic life, and the potential health risks to subsistence consumers. The Saltchucks area also is culturally significant to the Tribe. It is the location of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe’s culture camp, where young people from areas around Southeast Alaska learn about their native heritage.

Due to USACE budget constraints and different priorities for environmental investigation work, dioxin sampling in the area had come to an end a few years ago. Alex James, a community and Tribal member and now the TRP Coordinator, was deeply concerned about this and took the initiative to find funding that would permit the Tribe to conduct its own investigations into dioxin contamination. They were also interested in reviewing the remediation work being done by the USACE in Yakutat. Alex’s search led him to EPA’s Brownfields program and specifically, to the Tribal Response Program grants.

In 2008 the Tribe applied for and received a grant to establish its own Tribal Response Program. At least half of the funding tribes receive is devoted to establishing and enhancing their program and to ensure that they include or are taking reasonable steps to include these four elements in their programs:

• Timely survey and inventory of Brownfield sites.
• Oversight and enforcement authorities or other mechanisms and resources to ensure that a response action will protect human health and the environment.
• Mechanisms and resources to provide meaningful opportunities for public participation.
• Mechanisms for approval of a cleanup plan and verification that cleanup is complete.

The other portion of a Brownfields Response Program funding may be spent on specific site work.

Since receiving the grant, the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe has satisfied the first element by developing an inventory of Brownfields sites. Though not all are military-related, all have an impact either on the resources used for subsistence and/or cultural activities of the community. The inventory is being further developed this year when the sites are mapped in a web-based GIS format. To comply with the third element, public participation, the Tribe and its contractors will develop community outreach and educational materials that will augment the online inventory.

The Tribe’s immediate and primary concern, one which has consumed much of their efforts, is the dioxin contamination found near the sensitive shellfish habitat of the Ankau Saltchucks. The response program work plans for 2009 and 2010 reflect this emphasis. The 2009 work plan focused on developing a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for sampling and analysis work at sites that can be applied to specific site work. This relates to the fourth element in the TRP: approval and verification of cleanup.

Also in 2009, the Tribe and its environmental consultant reviewed the dioxin investigations previously performed by the USACE. This included screening levels used, detection limits achieved, types of dioxins detected, toxicity calculations and a determination of additional investigation work needed.

This year’s work plan calls for the Tribe to conduct additional site-specific dioxin testing that will build on the program development and USACE evaluation done in 2009.  The Tribe proposes collecting up to 20 soil, sediment, water and animal tissue samples to supplement previous dioxin investigations.

Part of the additional work will be to obtain analytical data from state-of-the-art procedures using lower detection limits, and collecting samples from a wider area. The goal of these efforts is to try to determine whether the contamination is localized or more widely distributed and may also provide important information for identifying the likely source of the dioxin contamination.

It also is important to the Tribe to evaluate applicable maximum allowable contaminant levels for shellfish in light of their members’ higher than average consumption. The current acceptable contaminant levels are based on a mainland average that does not account for the higher shellfish consumption in this subsistence community. After identifying possible sources of the dioxin contamination, potential health risks to the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe can be addressed.

For more information, contact:

Alex James, Tribal Response Coordinator
Yakutat Tlingit Tribe
P.O. Box 418
Yakutat, AK 99689
Phone: 907-784-3238 ext. 231
Fax: 907-784-3595
ajames@ytttribe.org

Joanne LaBaw
U.S. EPA—Region 10
1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98101
labaw.joanne@epa.gov