LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Bay Mills Indian Community is set to receive grants from the environmental protection agency for a Brownfield clean-up project.
The funds will help the tribe continue dealing with contamination in its public works building. The Michigan Infrastructure Office announced a $6 million total in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help communities with the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites and transform vacant and abandoned properties into community assets.
The Bay Mills Indian Community will receive $575,000 to continue cleaning up contamination at the Silver Dome, the old public works building.
The tribe was working on an existing clean-up project when they discovered elevated levels of trichloroethylene or TCE, a chemical commonly used as an industrial degreasing solvent.
Phil Roos, the director of Michigan’s Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy said it’s been a state-wide effort to clean up similar sites as a part of the MI Healthy Climate Plan
“Really the criteria is communities that need them most and where they can really be put to better use and at the same time cleaning up contaminated properties,” Roos said. “That’s really a big boost and I think the up all over the state we need this, we’ve got a legacy of old contaminated sites and cleaning those up and turning them to new use is really a big part of making that transition.”
Roos said communities that have experienced disinvestment can lack the resources needed to initiate brownfield cleanup and redevelopment projects. Remediating brownfield sites attracts jobs, promotes economic revitalization, and transforms communities into sustainable and environmentally just places for people to live and grow.
According to EGLE, from Fiscal Year 2019 to 2024, the state has provided over $151 million in brownfield grants and loans to 359 projects, resulting in the creation of 19,229 jobs and $7.3 billion in private investments.
The EPA’s Brownfields Program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative which set a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Brownfields Program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work.
The tribe’s environmental coordinator, Jennifer Satchell, said the contamination is most likely from an old shop that used to fill the Silver Dome building, which has left the building unusable for years, using up space in a central location, which Satchell said is already in short supply. Satchell said most of the trust land is wetland they can’t build on, so cleaning up the area will allow them to find a better community-centered use for the space.
“It’s just it would be great to make this site usable again and do something really good there. Especially because there’s so few places that the tribe can develop on their trust land.” Satchell said. “We definitely want to redevelop the site into something that the community can use that it’s a safe place.”
Bay Mills is set to receive the new funding in October, Satchell said they hope to finish clean up by Summer 2026.
