Summary:
Brownfields sites on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal lands are areas that may be affected by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties improves the health of Tribal members, protects the environment and reintroduces these properties for future use by the Tribe for residential, institutional, or economic development.
Duties within the Brownfields program include; environmental inventories and assessments, Brownfields clean-up training, clean-up assessments, pre-closure and post-closure open dump planning, Brownfields site clean-up and closure, as well as undesirable event identification and responses.
The Brownfields program provides technical assistance to assess the threat of illegal dumps on the reservation. For instance, numerous large dumps at White Mesa do include hazardous waste such as asbestos and solvents. The Brownfields program has funded testing of the open dumps providing an idea of the best available technology to close the dump and ensure the quality of Tribal air, soil and water resources. Asbestos removal was completed in May of 2004.
Potential training opportunities of the program have benefited Weeminuche Construction staff, tribal emergency responders, and environmental department staff. Staff have attended and led Brownfields seminars which have led to employment opportunities for tribal enterprises. Future training opportunities will be offered to Tribal members and employees who may be interested in career opportunities related to environmental clean up and reclamation. In addition training has benefited Emergency Responders and the Environmental Department by providing experience in dealing with hazardous material spills that have occured on highways, water ways or oil fields within the Reservation.
