Tribal case studies of Superfund sites on or near Tribal lands provide basic information that can be used by Tribal staff to identify other Tribes that may have experience to help them navigate the cleanup and remediation efforts related to their own sites. The Tribal case studies presented below provide Tribal relevance, Superfund status, maps, and contaminant information.
You can find detailed information for each of these sites (and any other Superfund site you are interested in learning more about) by typing the site name into the search box on EPA’s Superfund Site Search webpage. Additionally, a Google search on a Superfund site name that you are interested in may also provide links to resources such as the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR) report on exposure to contamination from the site and related effect on nearby people’s health.
Tribal Superfund Case Studies
- Pueblo of Laguna: Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine
- Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe: St. Regis Paper Company
- Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe: New Bedford Harbor
- Quapaw Tribe: Tar Creek
- Shoshone-Bannock Tribes: Eastern Michaud Flats
- Akwesasne & St. Regis Mohawk Tribe: General Motors
- Six Oregon Tribal Nations: Portland Harbor
- Spokane Tribe: Midnite Mine
- Muckleshoot and Suquamish Nations: Lower Duwamish Waterway
- Washoe Tribe: Leviathan Mine
- Onondaga Nations: Onondaga Lake
- Aleut Nation: Adak Naval Air Station
- Elem Band of Pomo Indians: Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine
- Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Nation: Arsenic Trioxide
- Makah Tribe: Makah Reservation Warmhouse Beach Dump Site
- Yakama Nation: FMC Corp.
- Cayuga Nation: Cayuga County Ground Water Contamination
- Chippewa Nations: Ashland NSP Lakefront SF
- Muckleshoot & Suquamish: Harbor Island
- Muckleshoot & Suquamish: Pacific Sound Resources
- Swinomish & Samish: Naval Air Station SF
This collection of case studies is not a comprehensive list of Superfund sites on Tribal lands. This webpage will continue to be expanded. Additionally, you can retrieve Superfund data from the Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) database. SEMS is EPA’s primary system for Superfund data collection, reporting, and tracking. In January 2019, the US Government Accountability Office published a report, Superfund – EPA Should Improve the Reliability of Data on National Priorities List Sites Affecting Indian Tribes, which includes information on the a site-wide cleanup status of National Priorities List (NPL) sites with known Native American interest as of December 2017.