What is IGAP?
IGAP stands for Indian General Assistance
Program. This is an EPA grant to help tribes develop
capacity to administer
environmental programs. The grant program was mandated
by the Clinton administration in the mid 1990's. It has
been awarded to tribes across the lower 48 and Alaska.
The Anvik Tribal Council has been administering an IGAP
program since 2003. Beyond developing administrative capacity,
the IGAP grant's main focus is solid waste management and
hazardous waste management, but many other environmental
issues can be addressed under this program. Some of the
environmental issues that the Anvik Tribal Council has
addressed with the IGAP program are:
Solid Waste Management
Some people think
that that "solid
waste" is the solid part of human waste that enter
sewage systems, but actually the term represents a variety
of material wastes that usually end up in the solid waste
landfill (dump). The waste stream entering the landfill
comes mainly from three sources:
- Residential or household wastes. This
is the trash we generate in our homes. It generally consists
of food scraps and trimmings, paper, glass, cardboard,
plastics, metals, and wood. The main sources of these
wastes are from containers and packaging, but can also
include old furniture, clothing, disposable diapers,
shopping bags, vehicles and equipment, household appliances,
cleaning products, old tires, grass cuttings and brush,
and a wide variety of other materials. Some household
wastes can also be classified as hazardous.
- Commercial/Institutional wastes. These
are wastes generated by businesses and institutions such
as the local businesses, city and tribal offices, post
office, school, washeteria, clinic, etc. The majorities
of these wastes are paper and cardboard, but also can
contain items like printer and fax machine ink cartridges,
fluorescent light tubes, and old office equipment, some
of which can also be classified as hazardous waste.
- Construction/Demolition wastes. As the
name implies, these are wastes generated during construction,
demolition and renovation projects. These wastes can
range from gypsum board (sheet rock), concrete, fiberglass,
old carpeting and vinyl flooring, plywood and wood scraps,
sheet metal and other metals like screws and nails, asphalt
shingles and tar paper, adhesives, paint, solvents, lubricants,
broken tools and equipment and a variety of other materials.
Some of these wastes can also be classified as hazardous.
To improve our solid waste management
strategies, the Anvik Tribal Council developed an Integrated
Solid Waste Management Plan (ISWMP). This plan not only
addresses the three categories of waste mentioned above,
but also hazardous waste, recycling, dead animal disposal,
bird/animal attraction to the landfill, windblown debris,
burning of waste, cover and fill material for the landfill,
landfill operating procedures, useful life expectancy of
the existing landfill, locating a new landfill site, and
closure of the existing site.
Since the City of
Anvik leases the landfill site from Deloy Ges, and is
responsible for general operations,
the Tribe and City entered into a Memorandum of Agreement
(MOA) to cooperatively pursue funding for solid waste management.
With this arrangement we were able to obtain funding from
the Denali Commission in 2005 for solid waste improvements.
With these funds we purchased a Burnbox and constructed
a new fence around the landfill. These improvements have
helped to reduce the volume of waste entering the landfill,
mitigate bird/animal attraction, and reduce windblown debris
around the landfill site. Although we have realized improvements
in solid waste management the last few years, there is
still room for improvement. The most effective strategy
for this is educating the public through encouraging the
philosophy of "Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle",
discouraging the practice of open burning, and proper disposal
of household hazardous wastes.
Hazardous Waste Management
Another element of the IGAP workplan is
hazardous waste management. The ATC Environmental Department
is taking a twofold approach to address this issue. A contaminated
sites strategy, and hazardous waste disposal and storage.
In the original workplan, the main focus of this element
was to identify contaminated sites and develop a strategy
for clean-up of these sites. Since clean-up of contaminated
sites is a complicated and costly process, the Anvik Tribal
Council has pursued EPA Brownfields funding through the
Brownfields Tribal Response Program (BTRP). The BTRP is
also a capacity building grant intended to help tribes
develop the expertise and resources necessary to identify,
assess and clean-up contaminated sites with the ultimate
goal of redevelopment and/or re-use of property that is
abandoned or underutilized due to real or perceived contamination.
In addition to being complicated and costly, the process
of addressing these contaminated sites is very time consuming
and lengthy, often taking several years from identification
and inventory of a site, to actual clean-up and redevelopment.
More information on the BTRP can be found under the Brownfields
tab on the top of this website.
The second approach
to hazardous waste management is storage and disposal
of these wastes. Not
only are hazardous wastes a health and environmental concern,
there are also financial, legal, and regulatory implications
that must be considered. Some hazardous wastes such as
household cleaning products, used motor oil and anti-freeze,
and old automotive batteries are relatively easy to deal
with. Other materials that are more hazardous, such as
pesticides and herbicides, some petroleum products, medical
wastes, radioactive materials, and other chemical compounds
are much more complicated and costly to dispose of properly.
Through the IGAP grant a connex container was purchased
for storage of household hazardous wastes. This container
will be set up in an appropriate area with instructions
for proper containment and storage of these materials.
This will help keep hazardous materials out of the landfill,
and stage them for future backhaul shipment out of the
village. A used oil burning boiler was also purchased with
IGAP funds, and will be used to heat the new Tribal Community
Building. This will properly dispose of used oil from the
AVEC generators, the Anvik Airport upgrade project, used
oil from the city's heavy equipment, and used oil from
private vehicles. In addition to proper disposal of used
oil, this will save the tribe a substantial amount of money
in heating costs. Hazardous waste is a complex issue, but
we are continuing to improve our hazardous waste strategies.
Recycling
Most large scale and industrial recycling
occurs in the lower 48 states, and includes scrap metals,
concrete, asphalt and other construction and manufacturing
materials. The most common small scale and consumer goods
recycling materials are aluminum, paper and cardboard,
plastic, glass, batteries, and electronic goods. In rural
Alaska it is not feasible or cost effective to recycle
many of these materials. The existing infrastructure and
transportation in rural Alaska does not yet support recycling
of paper/cardboard, plastic, and glass products. This is
where the philosophy of reduce and re-use comes into play.
We can reduce the volume of these materials entering the
landfill and impacting the environmental by simply reducing
and/or re-using these types of materials. The materials
that we can recycle practically include: aluminum, electronic
products, automotive batteries, and junk vehicles. We are
currently working with the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed
Council (YRITWC) Backhaul Program to remove junk vehicles,
batteries, white goods (appliances like refrigerators,
freezers, stoves, etc.), and e-goods (computers, monitors,
TVs, fax machines, etc.). We have been shipping out aluminum
cans through the ALPAR Flying Cans program, but are looking
at shipping aluminum cans and old boats with the YRITWC.
Youth Environmental
Tribal Interns
In the summers of
2006 and 2007 the Anvik Tribal Council employed local
Youth Environmental Tribal
Interns (locally known as YETI's). The YETIs have been
instrumental in implementing several of the environmental
programs during the summer. In addition to working on these
programs, the youth are gaining knowledge of environmental
issues, and spreading that knowledge to others. More Information
about the YETI Program is available through links on the
IGAP page of this website.
Water Quality Monitoring
Water is one of the most vital resources
to life. We are fortunate to have high quality water resources
in rural Alaska, but these resources are being impacted
by global climate change that is causing increased glacial
and permafrost melt, other natural events like forest fires
and floods, and human impacts like mining, agriculture,
manufacturing, sewage and solid waste disposal, and the
extensive use of fossil fuels.
Water Quality Monitoring programs provide
baseline data for water resources, and can monitor and
track changes occurring to the resource. Since 2006 the
Anvik Tribal Council Environmental Program has been working
with the YRITWC Water Quality Monitoring Program. This
program is a continuation of a United States Geological
Survey (USGS) 5 year study of the chemistry of the Yukon
River. In addition to studying and monitoring the chemistry
of the river, the YRITWC program is also looking at identifying
and quantifying point source and non-point source pollutants
affecting the river and resources that rely on it. Point
source pollutants are contamination that occurs at a specific
and identifiable location. Some examples of point source
pollution are sewage outfalls, landfills, oil spills and
mining discharges. Examples of non-point source pollution
are fossil fuel exhaust and leaks from vehicles, fertilizer
and pesticide runoff from agricultural areas and urban
lawns and gardens, and industrial fallout from the atmosphere.
In addition to collaborating with YRITWC on the Yukon River
project, the IGAP program is designing a Water Quality
Monitoring Program for the Anvik River, Bonasilla River,
and other traditional water resources like lakes, streams
and springs in the area.
Alternative/Renewable Energy
With the skyrocketing costs and environmental
hazards associated with fossil fuels such as petroleum,
natural gas, and coal, and the inherent risks associated
with nuclear power, alternative/renewable energy is becoming
very popular worldwide. Alternative or renewable energy
is defined as power generation that comes from non-fossil
fuel and non-nuclear resources. The most common forms of
alternative/renewable energy are solar, wind, geothermal,
and hydroelectric. The Anvik Tribal Council Environmental
Program is currently researching alternative/renewable
energy options that may be feasible for this area. While
alternative/renewable energy has definite environmental
advantages and lower operating and maintenance costs, initial
purchase and installation of these technologies is rather
expensive, and takes a long term investment to recoup the
initial cost in savings. We are pursuing funding sources
to perform feasibility studies on the various forms of
alternative/renewable that would be practical here.
