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EPA Grants K-State $2 Million to Assist Tribes’ Brownfields Efforts

Funding to provide technical support with cleanup, reuse and revitalization

01/11/2017
Contact Information: 
Christie St. Clair (stclair.christie@epa.gov)
202-564-2880

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

image of K-State logo(Lenexa, Kan., Jan. 11, 2017) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected Kansas State University (K-State) to receive approximately $2 million in funding over the course of five years to provide technical support to tribes addressing environmentally contaminated land. The university will help tribes with technical support around cleaning up these lands, known as brownfields.

“Tribes have unique needs in revitalizing contaminated lands for productive reuses,” said Mathy Stanislaus,  assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management. “Kansas State University will offer tribes substantive technical assistance, as they work to clean up and revitalize lands in a manner they determine is consistent with their culture and governance.”

K-State will help tribes across the country identify solutions on assessing and cleaning up brownfields, developing reuse plans, and financing options. The university will also help tribes develop peer networks to share ideas about brownfields issues. With K-State’s help, tribes will build tribal response programs to develop integrated approaches to brownfield cleanup and reuse, considering the links between environmental, economic, cultural, and social issues.

There are 566 federally recognized tribes within the United States. Each tribe is an independent sovereign nation, responsible for setting standards, making environmental policy, and managing environmental programs for its people. While each tribe faces unique challenges, many share similar environmental legacies. EPA and tribes have been working together to clean up brownfields for more than a decade, and the partnership is making a difference:

  • In fiscal year 2016, EPA allocated more than $12 million dollars to 107 tribes for their tribal response programs.
  • More than 700 properties are enrolled in tribal response programs.
  • More than 455 properties are "cleanup-final," with required institutional controls in place.
  • More than 3,800 acres on tribal lands are ready for reuse.

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Learn more information about EPA’s Brownfields Program

Learn more about EPA Brownfields grants

Learn more about state and tribal response programs

Learn more about environmental protection in Indian Country

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