NOTE: Please also read article as originally posted at EPA Region 10 Building on Brownfields Newsletter.
EPA awards five new STRP grants in Alaska
DEC proposes applications by tribal consortia to increase funding
EPA recently awarded $50 million in State and Tribal Response Program (STRP) grants to numerous states, tribes and tribal consortia across the nation. Among the grant winners are five tribes and tribal consortia in Alaska, and there are six continuing grants.
While the 2008 awards have been made, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) encourages future potential applicants to start framing their requests for the next grant cycle.
“One of our objectives in the next year will be to help communities understand how best to successfully apply for this funding opportunity in a manner that maximizes results and minimizes the paperwork,” says John Carnahan, DEC brownfield coordinator. “Although it is certainly not a requirement, we highly encourage tribes to consider working together with their neighbors to establish sub-regional consortia when seeking STRP funding.”
STRP grants are available to individual states, tribes and tribal consortia across the nation as capacity-building grants to help establish brownfield programs. More Alaska communities may be able to reap the benefits of these grants when working together to identify sites, educate their residents, review their reuse and redevelopment goals, and provide training through this unique funding opportunity, Carnahan says.
A well-designed regional brownfield grant can complement tribal environmental programs and assist communities that may otherwise not be able to apply for and manage this funding, according to DEC. Brownfield funding allows communities to focus on specific revitalization efforts, whereas the EPA Indian General Assistance Program (IGAP) grant does not. With a strong IGAP program in place and supplementary brownfield services and training made available through regional brownfield programs, tribes will be better situated to independently manage spill prevention and environmental assessment, cleanup and redevelopment projects, Carnahan says.
And because the funding available through EPA’s Brownfield Program is limited, more villages will be able to reap the benefits of brownfield assistance if they work together to share resources.
“We want to establish a strong tribally led program that can coordinate community needs across Alaska,” he says. “We encourage tribes to capitalize on existing consortia or other regional relationships to develop an application encompassing multiple communities.”
As an example, the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC), which is in its third year of STRP funding, has used its STRP grant to survey environmental conditions in 37 watershed communities; YRITWC has identified and mapped more than 230 potential brownfield sites. Training is also a focus of the YRITWC grant, and they have brought together representatives from more than 30 communities, in three separate training workshops, to discuss the brownfield program, how to identify and document sites, and how to work together on establishing a brownfield inventory. The brownfield funding received by the YRITWC has been used to complement the watershed communities’ IGAP grants, extending services to areas that otherwise may not have brownfield funding.
The organizations that have already been awarded STRP grants are:
* Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
* Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council
* Port Heiden Native Council
* Leisnoi Village–Woody Island Tribal Council (Kodiak)
* Native Village of Tununak–Nelson Island Consortium
* Anvik Tribal Council
* Metlakatla Indian Community
The five new ones this year, most of which will be starting October 1 (the beginning of the federal fiscal year) are:
* Bristol Bay Native Association
* Organized Village of Kasaan
* Maniilaq Association
* Middle Kuskokwim Consortium
* Yakutat Tlingit Tribe
For more information on the STRP grant, contact Sonja Benson or John Carnahan. Or go to http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/state_tribal.htm.
