Brownsfield Program
The Brownsfield Program will be interviewing Elders on the FSST Reservation April 14th through April 18th. Elizabeth Wakeman (pictured to the right), Brownsfield Program Director and will interview Elders (age 65 +) and ask questions about dump sites, septic tanks and land fill sites on reservation lands , Flandreau Indian School, and their home sites.
The Tribal Response Program (TRP) will be surveying the FSST reservation to identify and inventory potential Brownsfield sites, then determining if any of the sites need to be professionally assessed for possible cleanup to remove contamination.
YOU can help us in at work by letting us know if you know of places where waste has been dumped, pesticide or chemical containers have been stored or disposed of, or other potential contaminate releases may have been taken place; even if it was many years ago. Contact our Tribal Response Program for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe by phone. Elizabeth Wakeman, Program Director for the Brownsfield Program, can be reached at 997-5122 if you have any questions, feel free to call Elizabeth at her work number or email.
Ms. Wakeman will be visiting the Elders at the Grace Moore Senior Center and in their homes.
The entire Tribal community is affected by how clean and safe the lands of our reservation are---or are not. We hope to be joined by the entire community in our work to locate and remove what contamination may already be here, and to prevent further contamination from taking place.
Brownsfield is a term for buildings or land that may be contaminated with one or more hazardous substances and the possible contamination is preventing or discouraging use of those buildings or land, as well as posing a risk to public health and safety.
Examples of brownfields include:
*Abandoned homes and trailers that may contain asbestos or lead-based paint
*Meth lab sites
*Commercial or industrial sites that may have chemical contamination (auto-repair shops, gas stations, etc.)
*Sites where pesticides or herbicides are stored
*Landfills or dumping locations for garbage, whether official or unofficial, active or closed
*Mine-scarred lands
*Any site suspected of possible contamination by one or more hazardous substances
Brownsfield Program is funded by the US EPA which is intended to assist in development of the infrastructure to maintain a long-term effort to identify, inventory, assess, cleanup and redevelop currently existing brownsfield sites and prevent the creation of new ones.
Elizabeth Wakeman will have five “elements” of duties with this program, the main ones will be:
*Public Record
*Survey & Inventory
*Oversight and Enforcement
*Public Participation
*Approval and Verification of Cleanup Plans
Some other goals with the program are: Fund TRP staff, establish & maintain a Brownfields/Environmental web page, hosting public information meetings, Facilitate the drafting or updating of a solid & hazardous waste code.
Submitted by FSST Brownsfield Program, Elizabeth Wakeman-Director
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