Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot Fact Sheet

EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $250,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

BACKGROUND EPA has selected the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation also is a recipient of a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The Reservation is located in a remote area of north-central Washington near the Canadian border. Tribal membership is 8,500 and approximately half of the members live on the Reservation, where unemployment is 45%. The Indian Health Service has identified 10 brownfields on the Reservation, and the Tribal Planning Department has identified 173 illegal dump sites on the Reservation. The Brownfields Assessment Pilot is addressing the Agency Headquarters site in Nespelem and another site located in Inchelium. The sites are located within two of four federal Enterprise Communities on the Reservation. The Enterprise Communities are actively engaged in housing, infrastructure, and economic redevelopment projects. Because of its remote location and the lack of trained environmental technicians living on the Reservation, the cost of bringing trained technicians onto the Reservation to address known or suspected contamination hinders Tribal redevelopment efforts. Training is needed for local residents to allow the Tribe to address brownfields and other contamination problems.

PILOT SNAPSHOT Nespelem, Washington Date of Announcement: December 2001 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot will train 40 students as environmental technicians. Students will be recruited from low-income residents of the Colville Reservation, where the unemployment rate is 45% and 173 illegal dump sites have been identified.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation plans to train 40 students, achieve a 75% placement rate, and support career placement of graduates for one year after the training is completed. Students will be recruited from low-income residents of the Colville Reservation. The 224-hour Pilot hazardous materials technician training program will consist of HAZWOPER, lead abatement, asbestos abatement, confined space, spill response, and trenching and excavation safety including training in the use of innovative assessment and cleanup technologies.

The training efforts of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will be supported by organizations such as the Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Program, Tribal Employment and Training Program, Wenatchee Valley College North, Highline Community College, and Worksafe Institute of Washington. The Colville Tribes have enacted a Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance requiring employers operating on the Reservation to give hiring preference to members of the Colville Tribes. Training program participants will earn Continuing Education Units that may be applied to an associates or bachelors degree in the environmental field.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting outreach to recruit low-income residents of the Colville Reservation;
• Conducting training for entry-level positions as brownfields technicians, including courses in the use of innovative assessment and cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students for one year after the job training is completed.

CONTACTS

Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation
(509) 634-2723

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 10
(206) 553-7299

Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site.