Managing a portfolio of legacy contamination across remote sites
Ounalashka Corporation, an Alaska Native Village Corporation, holds approximately 115,000 acres conveyed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) around the City of Unalaska and Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, roughly 1,200 miles west of Anchorage. Across that footprint sit dozens of Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) shaped by World War II activity, decades of changing site use and the realities of remote operations.
The work required more than technical cleanup steps. Each site carried different constraints: limited access windows, complex material profiles and the need to align field plans with federal program requirements. The priority was to create a practical pathway from legacy conditions to implementable cleanup actions without losing sight of community values or cultural context.
Turning grant requirements into a workable field plan
Progress began with funding strategy and documentation that matched EPA expectations while staying grounded in on-the-ground execution. Onterris worked alongside the Ounalashka Corporation team to build a grant package that translated site conditions into a clear scope, defensible budgets and a sequence of actions that could be executed in a remote setting.
That approach secured $5 million in EPA Brownfields and Contaminated ANCSA Lands grants, creating the runway needed to assess multiple sites and advance cleanup activities. Just as important, it established a repeatable model for aligning project development, stakeholder communication and compliance needs to advance the work from planning stages to field mobilization.
Executing targeted removals of complex site contaminants
Several sites involved soils contaminated with PCBs, including an area where transformers exploded during the World War II Japanese bombing of Unalaska. One key effort of the project included a $1 million remedial excavation to remove PCB-impacted soils that posed significant environmental and health risks and required extensive clean-up activity.
Other locations included buried demolition debris and asbestos-containing materials associated with World War II-era structures and post-war demolition activities. Records indicate the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) conducted landfilling and demolition-related work during the 1960s through the 1980s, leaving a legacy mix of debris that required careful characterization, planning and disposal pathways. Upcoming work includes a $2 million effort focused on removing buried demolition debris containing hazardous building materials.
Ounalashka Corporation is leading the way in leveraging EPA funding to conduct assessment, cleanup and plan the restoration and reuse of our lands in Unalaska, which includes over 100 sites on the EPA Contaminated ANCSA Lands Inventory. Our partnership with Onterris has been critical to securing funding and building our environmental program.
Outcomes that support long-term stewardship
With funding secured and early cleanup actions underway, the Corporation now has a stronger platform for managing a multi-site portfolio: prioritized scopes, implementable work packages and a clear line of sight from assessment through cleanup. The project also demonstrates how Brownfields programs can support Alaska Native Corporations when technical planning, grant compliance and field delivery stay tightly connected.
Work continues to advance additional FUDS sites through assessment and cleanup planning, with the approach serving as a practical model for other Tribal governments and Alaska Native Corporations managing legacy defense impacts in remote environments.