EPA grants Unalaska’s Native corporation $2 million for WWII waste cleanup

The Ounalashka Corp. has been awarded $2 million for cleaning up Unalaska’s Strawberry Hill Landfill.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in late May that it had selected the Native village corporation as part of President Joe Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda.

Unalaska is one of roughly 180 communities to receive these brownfields grants, which are designed to clean up and transform once-polluted and vacant properties into community assets.

Officials with the Native corporation said in the past that they’ve struggled with finding means to clean up their lands – some of which had been polluted by World War II activity.

The funds will help clean up the former landfill on Amaknak Island. The site, which closed in 1950, was a defense site where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disposed hazardous debris from World War II structures.

The Native corporation will also use some funds for community engagement activities, according to the EPA.

The corporation was also awarded $1 million in grant money from the EPA last fall. Local leadership said the funding would be used to test and remove soil from contaminated lands.