The EPA defines a brownfield as a property where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties.

EPA has selected the Ounalashka Corporation for a Brownfields Community-wide Assessment Grant for States and Tribes that will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The target areas for this grant include Bunker Hill/Little South America, Pyramid Valley, and Strawberry Hill within the City of Unalaska, all of which were subject to intensive use by the U.S. military during World War II, and are subject to significant area-wide contamination concerns including unexploded ordinance, undocumented waste disposal areas, and widespread impacts to sediment in surface water bodies.

To learn about EPA’s broader efforts to put previously contaminated properties back into productive use, you can read about their Land Revitalization Program. More information regarding Ounalashka Corporation’s Brownfields Grant activities will be available soon.

Additional content and links to come.