Contaminated Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Lands



Get Involved

Sign Up to Receive Email Updates

For the first time, funding has been made available to begin to address this issue. On this page, there is information about: 

  • EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program, which is a cooperative agreement funding program to assess and cleanup ANCSA – conveyed contaminated lands
  • The ANCSA Partnership Group, which is a forum where you can be kept up to date on the EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Program and resources being made available.
  • How to request assistance from ANTHC’s Contaminated Site Program on a site within your community
  • Outreach and education materials for download and printing including a funding program “cheat sheet”

ANCSA Partnership Group​

The Alaska Native Claims  Settlement Act (ANCSA) Contaminated Lands  Partnership Group formed in response to a Recommendation from the 2016 BLM Report To Congress, which called to establish a formal  contaminated lands working group. The purpose of this group was to address sites identified in the ANCSA Contaminated Lands Inventory (which was Hosted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), including the verification, assessment and cleanup of Conveyed lands.

Representatives

The Partnership Group consists of representatives from Statement of Cooperation (SOC) agencies (DEC, EPA, DOD, DOI, USFS, USCG, FAA, and ANTHC), ANCSA village and regional corporations, and Tribes.

Goals

The ANCSA Contaminated Lands Partnership Group’s goals were originally oriented in the belief that the group would have to prioritize the sites to work on. With the advent of the EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program, these goals have had to shift. The group is currently a forum for entities to get updates on the EPA’s contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program and provide feedback to state and federal partners. 

To learn more or participate in the ANCSA Contaminated Lands Partnership Group, please contact Lisa Griswold, ANTHC Contaminated Sites Program, at lgriswold@anthc.org or (907) 729-5630.

Meetings Archive

2023

2020

       

    2019

         

        • February 14, 2019
          ANCSA Partnership Group Meeting #3

               

              • Overview of partnership group’s formation and history, update on DEC Contaminated Sites Inventory update, overview of BUILD Act liability protection for corporations.

        2018

             

            • February 16, 2018
              ANCSA Partnership Group Meeting #1

                   

                  • Discussion of group goals, membership, and charter.

              • October 16, 2018
                ANCSA Partnership Group Meeting #2

                     

                    • Overview of BUILD Act and CERCLA Liability Protection for corporations, and DEC Contaminated Sites Inventory update.

              Upcoming Events

              Request ANTHC Assistance

              You can also request assistance on doing this site research from ANTHC’s Contaminated Site Program.

              Outreach and Education

              Funding for the cleanup of Contaminated Sites in Alaska is a complex issue. To help promote understanding of the different contaminated site funding programs and how they intersect with the EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program, ANTHC has developed the below Fact Sheet that describes the different types of funding programs that are available. Fact sheets and brochures for the EPA Brownfields Program, the Contaminated ANCSA Lands Program, and the Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program (NALEMP) referenced in the fact sheet are also included below.

              If you have specific questions, please contact Lisa Griswold at (907) 729 – 5630 or email Lisa at lgriswold@anthc.org. 

               

               

              Clean up the Land: EPA Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program

              Communities can begin to address these sites on their own timeline and with the autonomy to choose their own contractors, workers, and cleanup solutions with the U.S. EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Program.

              To learn more about this funding program please visit the EPA Contaminated ANCSA Lands website or contact Jeff Estes, 907-271-6558, or Mahri Lowinger, 907-271-6334.​

              To be eligible for the Contaminated ANCSA Lands Program you must have these three things: ​

              • The site must be on ANCSA-conveyed land​
              • There must be pre-conveyance contamination​
              • The site must be verified and on the EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Inventory, also known as the “Common Operating Picture” ​

              If you do not know if you meet the three eligibility requirements above, below are some resources to help with initial research:​

              ANCSA Conveyed Lands

              If you do not know if the site was on ANCSA-conveyed land, the BLM ANCSA conveyance Webmap is a good place to start looking.

              Alaska DEC Contaminated Sites

              If you do not know if the site is contaminated, you can see if the site is on the ADEC’s Contaminated Sites webmap. 

              Alaska DEC's Spills Database

              Visit ADEC's Spills Database

              EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Inventory

              If you do not know if the site is on the EPA’s Contaminated ANCSA Lands Inventory (AKA the Common Operating Picture), you can search for the property on the embedded Common Operating Picture Dashboard below.

              Request ANTHC Assistance

              You can also request assistance on doing this site research from ANTHC’s Contaminated Site Program.

              Learn More

              The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act is a Law unique to Alaska and has had far reaching effects. On this page, you will find information on the history of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and Contaminated ANCSA lands, as well as additional resources

              Timeline

              Click  on the dates below to view the details.

              • Time immemorial: Alaska Native People in Alaska
              • 1867: Treaty of Cessation
              • 1959: Alaska becomes a state
              • 1966: State land selection frozen
              • 1968: Oil discovered at Prudhoe Bay
              • 1971: ANCSA signed
              • 1972: AS 46.03.822 imposes liability on polluters
              • 1980: CERCLA passed by US Congress
              • 1989: AS 46.03.822 strengthened
              • 1990: Directive to look at contaminated ANCSA lands
              • 1995: Second directive to look at contaminated ANCSA lands
              • 1998: DOI issues 1998 report on contaminated ANCSA lands
              • 2014: Third directive to look at contaminated ANCSA lands
              • 2018: BUILD Act provides liability relief
              • 2018: AS 46.03.822 amended to give liability relief
              • 2023: Establish Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program
              • Present day: Federal and state laws regarding liability differ

              Resource Links