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The military has operated all across Alaska since World Wa leaving a legacy of decades old contamination.

Many Alaska communities worry about their health, and the expense of removing it is daunting.

The community doesn't have the f We didn't create the contaminati we want to see.

We want to work with the governm to make sure it gets cleaned up.

We'll get an update on the remed of formerly used defense sites r on Alaska.

Insight.

Good evening.

Alaska's military history is long and sto During World War Two, the battles with Japanese soldie came right to the islands of the Aleutian c And the buildup in American forc here left infrastructure and tox in remote locations.

We'll hear about one project in and discuss the work of cleaning these legacy contaminants.

But before we get to that discus are some of the top stories of t from Alaska Public Media's collaborative statewide news Net With forecasters expecting subzero temperatures in Anchorag this weekend.

Assembly, Housing and Homelessne Committee chair Felix Rivera is requesting Mayor Dave use emergency powers to give people experiencing home a place to stay warm.

The request came during a committee meeting on We one day after the Assembly appro a 50 bed capacity increase for its walk in shelter Bronson has not indicated he wil emergency powers on Wednesday.

He discussed plans to put a cont before the Assembly at their nex to establish a warming area.

A task force convened by Governo Mike Dunleavy to examine the state's child care sector re its first batch of recommendatio this week, according to the stat commissioner, Heidi Hedberg.

The recommendations are aimed at reducing barriers for provide by streamlining the licensing and background check processes.

Hedberg says the task force's fo the next year will be on how to help families struggling to find care.

Alaska state troopers say two people ar with trying to smuggle drugs into Bethel's Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center in an attemp organized by two current inmates According to charging documents, the two inmates, Dane Hodgon and Wilson, coordinated two separate where Bethel resident Sarah Walk and Rebecca Flynn allegedly thre over the center's fence.

According to troopers, one of those packages was a bag of white powder that tested positive for methamp You can find the full version of and many more stories on our web Alaska Public dot org or by down the Alaska Public media app on y Now on to our discussion for thi The ongoing work to clean up formerly used defense sites.

The military has left a large footprint on Alaska mili and early warning systems dot the landscape all across the much of it dating to the Cold War and World But what happens after the milit the region?

KUCBs Theo Greenly has this stor the military's legacy in one Ala It's pretty much impossible to miss the remnants of World War Two in Unalaska, concrete bunkers and rusted out buildings dot the landscape and integrate themselv into nearly every neighborhood i fishing community of about 4500 Unalaska played a key role in the Second World War, but when the war ended, the mili quite a bit behind.

Grenades, chemical weapons and other munitions have been kn to turn up on the islands.

Hiking trails and beaches.

Bunkers and unexploded munitions get a lot of attention.

But the bigger problem is invisi People here live with pollution originating from material the military left behind in the There was a lot of concern about in water systems, in bays and the creeks of that they used for subsistence At that time, Mayor Vince Tutiak senior, grew up in Unalaska.

He says he's seen the health eff that he believes were caused by military contamination.

There's just all kinds of contam that we're dealing with.

PCBs is one of the major ones that cause cancer and other To our people out here over the years, Tutiakoff is one of many who've been actively asking the to clean up his town.

He says soiled testing over the last decade has revealed well over 200 sites that were contaminated as people One of those sites and there are another 30 or 40 s just in this area within the one 3 to 5 mile radius of the spot here.

In the 1980s, the Army Corps of developed a program to clean up places used by the United States Today, the formerly used Defense program has thousands of cleanup around the country, and Alaska has more than any oth We've got project sites pretty much everywhere that the military's had has been in possession of land o occupying land all over the stat Jake Sweet works with the Corps.

He's in Unalaska to help remove that was contaminated by heating during the war.

We are doing an excavation to remove contaminated soil.

There used to be a lab and a str here had an underground storage The army used to hit these build that were out here.

And then when they left, unfortu they would sometimes leave some fuel in those tanks.

And then over time, the tanks would release fuel into the grou The crews bag up the soil and se to a hazardous waste landfill in The Corps finished cleaning up t in September and installed wells to monitor the groundwater, which meets the state's safety s It was a major step in one of Al biggest residential neighborhood but that leaves dozens more just in Unalaska.

We do not have the funds.

The community doesn't have the f We didn't create the contaminati We want to see.

We want to work with the governm to make sure it gets cleaned up.

The Army Corps of Engineers is gearing up for the next two U cleanup projects.

They've contracted with a local environmental firm and expect to begin fieldwork in In Unalaska, I'm Theo Greenly.

Joining me tonight to describe t helping communities identify and remediate toxics is Vi Waghiyi, Vi is the Environmental health and justice coordinator for Alaska Community Action on T VI is also a member of the White Environmental Justice Advisory C and Lisa Griswald works for the Native Tribal Health Consortium Coordinating remediation of contaminated Native Corporati Welcome, both of you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for be The Army Corps of Engineers takes the lead on cleaning up formerly used defense sites.

We did invite Rena Flint, the FU program manager for the Army Cor Rena declined to appear on the p this evening, but did agree to a recorded inte that will see some segments of, Vi, I want to start with you.

You've worked for ACAT, Alaska Community Actio on Toxics for over 20 years now.

And the story that we just saw was about an Alaska contaminants But you grew up on St Lawrence I and a cat has worked with severe anger and gamble residents to test PCBs, blood levels.

It's the longest running blood study in the natio And give us an update.

When was the last time blood tests were conducted and what are the current results What do levels say?

We were just recently in Savoong this past summer.

We are committed to continue to monitor the blood and health and well-being of our people.

And this current grant we have protecting future genera And we have another grant with Northeast Cape.

We now know our people have 4 to higher PCBs than the average American in the And we've done three rounds of collection of our the blood of o And this most recent one was in Our goal is to collect over 200 samples from three groups of from our island Gamble Residents residents and our civic resident associate it with Northeast Cape So we will be heading to gamble this coming January and to collect blood serum from our adults.

But our Children's Protecting Future Generations project due to the concerns we heard from our parents and gr about their ability how these toxic chemicals can affect our children's abilit to learn.

We shot funding.

So we're looking at a small.

We're collecting a small amount to look at PCBs because they're very they don't break down easy.

So but they're also newer class of chemicals, flame retardants due to concerns of how they can affect our child And so that's just getting start The child's testing.

Yes, we've did our first collection in our community last winter, so we're just going back to do some of the check in on and those results as you get the Lisa, turning to you, as part of Alaska Native Claims Settlement some of the 44 million acres that were transferred to native corporations here had contamination on them.

You know, that wasn't really add much until 2022, when Senator Lisa murkowski was able to get $20 million to s What's happened since that funding has been secu So what's happened since then is that money went to the EPA to start a funding program to actually establish a cooperative agreement program so that Alaska Native communitie and Alaska Native entities could apply for funding from the in order to conduct assessment and cleanup on those sites.

Since then, the EPA has started that program.

They did put out their first req for applications earlier this year, and three entities did receive f UIC Tyonek.

And I'm going to blank on the th of course.

But so they're getting ready to get started, actually do some assessment and cleanup on s that they have identified.

In addition to that, the Alaska Department of Environmental Cons has also received some funding.

And so they are starting up a pr to do some verification work on that they believe may be contami ANCSA Lands And in addition to that, the Ala Tribal Health Consortium and the Native Village Corporation Assoc also received funding from the E in order to help do education and outreach about these sites and actually try to help these A Native communities access fundin so they can start addressing the And I know that you're sort of just getting started, but how mu if anything, is known, I imagine there are some known about what of contamination or on the ANCSA it really could be anything.

The most common contaminant in Alaska is petrole So according to the Alaska Depar of Environmental Conservation, approximately 75% of contaminate in Alaska do have petroleum cont It's very common.

Most often it' But past that, I mean, it could be like VI has discussed, it could be PC There could be other types of contaminants.

It's it could be really unknown.

It really depends on how that si used in the past.

And Vi From ACATs perspective, what is the status of cleanup work of formerly used defense si St Lawrence Island?

We have two Cold War era, formerly used defense sites Our people welcomed them.

They came in the late 1940s and established the base first in Gamble and then on the other end of our and Northeast Cape.

We were important strategic loca for the military.

So we have we have been trying to to get the site reopened.

These sites have never been properly characterized and the sites on St Lawrence Island were prematurely closed.

Our tribe was not a party to the record decision and we identified PCBs, pesticid heavy metals, solvents and massi fuel spills and Alaska has 700 current and formerly used defens And as I mentioned, they've never been properly char They're in close proximity to ou where our hunting and food gathering locations are.

So the ones on our island have been prematurely closed.

And the Army Corps of Engineers just recently did their second five year review.

So you had very harsh words for and the State Department of Environmental Cons saying they let the military off Why?

Why do you say that?

The burden of proof was put on m As I mentioned, we've had our ow community based project since 20 We've been funded since then.

We've done environmental samplin both at Northeast Cape and at Gamble, and we hire and train local peop We are our tribe.

Both of our tribes are our partn We have work group members said Give us advice and said our our elders and youth and former and current leadership.

So we're committed to continue t because we know that there's lan that were just capped.

This river in Northeast Cape, there was a massive fuel spills up to 160,000 gallon that we know of.

It used to have the most abundan fish on our island.

The fish have never returned.

So there's no more shell haul ou no more tom cod fishing.

So from your perspective, the cleanup is not done.

Yes, it is not complete.

It's not protective of our for public health.

Let's hear from the Army Corps of Engineers FUDS program manager Rena Flint.

She says the cleanups are a collaborative process.

The Army Corps works with Alaska Department of Environmental Cons and at some sites, the EPA is a regulatory partner.

But she says the decisions are m by a larger group.

One of the greatest things about the Cercla process is that the whole point of it was to expedite cleanup and to increase public practice And when I say public, you know, that's all forms of stakeholders especially at FUDS You know, the unique thing about they're not on military land.

So that's like the definition of is that it's formerly used defen So sites that have been transfer out of the control of the milita So we're working with Alaska nat corporations.

We're working with private landowners, we're working with the state, we're working with them, you kno So kind of all all members of th Alaska community.

So Vi it sounds like from the re of Saint Lawrence Islands perspective, you didn't feel ful in that process.

Lisa, what do you hear from your Is there enough engagement with local community members?

I think that that's it's kind of and it's something that we've be on, like something that ANTHC ha specifically working on with the ANCSA conveyed contaminated land to something c the ANCSA Partnership Group.

And that is a it's a group that's made up of s federal agencies, but also repre from Alaska, native corporations you know, village and regional A native tribes, other entities, and also members of the public.

And they you know, over the past several years, that group kind of struggled to get going j because there also wasn't any de funding up until as you discusse Senator Murkowski is 20 million.

And so we're just now kind of picking that up curr And that group is meeting quarterly right now.

And so we're trying to get that more ANTHC currently has plans in 2024 to do some very specific in community outreach and actual be going out to different villag and actually trying to get the w and trying to get more informati to people about this program and other types of funding progr that are available in Alaska for contaminated sites.

All right.

Thank you.

Vi ACANT.

Also works with tribes in Berwic Mission Teller, Nome, Elim Wales Unalakleet on these concerns ove sites.

Are cleanups happening in these communities c We we got a family excuse me we got a grant in 2005 to continue our work on the isla expand to 15 communities in Nort So that Grant was from 2005 to 2 And we did work with those commu And before that project began, we did have Freedom of Informati and collected information about Families defense site in the Norton Sound and we identified 32 formerly used defense sites and we reached out to tribes in our region.

So those were the tribes that ca agree to work with us.

So we've done environmental samp in those communities that I ment So and so that project ended in Do you expect that you'll at som be revisiting those sites?

Yes, we we are an organization.

We get requests from communities to work with them.

We don't have our own agenda.

So it's important that as Alaska Native people, I'm grateful for the funding tha the White House gave for the ANSCA lands remediation, but not all of the 700 formerly used and current sites are on ANSCA l So like mine, Northeast Cape ranked high enough for the national priority list or Superfund and it was nev So it's important that the gover do to their government, to government obligation work wi to ensure that they are in the p from the beginning and that the remediation address all of their concerns, which the Army Corps of Engineer not.

You know, honored.

There was a 1952 agreement I tribes signed with the militar and they have never honored that agreement.

So it's so important that as sov nations, the federal government and Department of Defense work with tribes directly.

Thank you.

Let's go back to Rena Flint with the Army Corps of Eng Again, she says sites that were completely cleaned up can be reo if new evidence comes to light.

That cleanup complete process.

We do it in concert with our reg and our stakeholders, tribes and landowners.

And we always say when we're closing out a project if new information becomes avail just let us know.

You know, just we can always reopen a proj So and we would do that by start in with the new set of facts and where to go from there.

Lisa, Have you worked with commu that have made successful requests to have sites reopened for clean I don't know about successful.

I know that the Qawalangin tribe in Unalaska specifically has concerns about multiple sites that are specifically FUDS sites that they've wanted to see reope I personally don't know if that actually happened.

That would have happened with th Department of Environmental Cons I do know that there are other funding pro that people can request assistance through, like if it i you know, even if it's just a regular cont site or FUDS they could get more assistance to try to do some of that sampli to try to see if they could find some of that evidence that maybe referring to that they would like to see to reopen I do.

So if people have concerns, I would recommend that they reac to either myself at the Alaska N Tribal Health Consortium or we also have some partners at DEC as well.

All right.

Thank you.

And I know that you would like t sites reopened at St Lawrence Is What are you basing that request on and has have the communities on St Lawrence made a formal reques just that?

Yes.

We will be sending a delegation to Washington, D.C. this coming spring and we have n collection.

We found mercury and Sun River and a site away from the military installation we sampled at the base, which is like ten, 15 miles away from the former installation, thinking we look at the background inform We now know that the extent of the military contamination is is out further than what they So we are going to be bringing a delegation and have meetings back to back with high officials in D.C., including Department of Defense, Department, Army Corps of Engineers, and also Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Reg And with their congressional lea So our hope is to make a request to see that the site cleanup is because we are continue to find legacy military toxics there.

So have you scheduled that trip?

Is that are you already cued up We're working with our work crew to see a time that will be best.

So and also the best with people we know up in Washington.

The best time.

That would be good for us to go.

So our goal is to get the site r because it's never they've done cosmetic cleanup.

And so it's so important that they meet with us and also find a way to work also with Health Department of H and Human Services to address the health harms we'r Thank you both so much for being here this and for the work that you're doi behalf of all Alaskans.

Thank yo Thank you.

Thank you.

The military's buildup in Alaska during World War Two was enormou with rapid deployments of thousands of soldiers and battle equipment to remote areas of our state.

Cleaning up after a war is difficult, expensive.

And as we heard tonight, can take decades to ach But it is critical for the curre and future health of Alaska comm That's it for this edition of Al INSIGHT.

Visit our website, Alaska public dot org for breaking news and reports from our partne stations across the state.

While you're there, sign up for our free daily Digest so you won't miss any of Alaska' top stories of the day.

Thanks for joining us this eveni I'm Lori Townsend.

Good night.