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EPA Awards $430,000 in Recovery Act Funds To Clean Up Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Leaks on Nez Perce land in Idaho.

Release Date: 10/02/2009
Contact Information: Peter Contreras EPA/Seattle, 206-553-6708, contreras.peter@epa.gov - Mark MacIntyre, EPA/Seattle, 206-553-7302, macintyre.mark@epa.gov

EPA: Funds will help create jobs and protect Nez Perce land, water and families.

(Lapwai, ID – October 2, 2009) In an effort to protect people where they live, work, and play, EPA announced the distribution of $430,000 to assess and clean up two underground storage tank leaks on the Nez Perce Reservation. EPA Region 10 will manage and oversee the work and use existing contractors to perform these activities.

“Cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks is essential to protect Nez Perce groundwater,” said Michelle Pirzadeh, EPA Acting Regional Administrator in Seattle. “Many tribal members in Indian country depend on groundwater for their drinking water, so this infusion of Recovery Act funds is critical to our efforts to safeguard health, protect the environment and energize tribal economies.”

This money is part of $197 million appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to address shovel-ready sites nationwide contaminated by petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks. EPA will use $6.3 million of the total funding to assess and clean up shovel-ready sites in Indian country. The Nez Perce Reservation projects are leaking underground storage tank clean ups in Craigmont (Bovey Oil) and Ferdinand (Ferdinand Service Station).

The greatest potential hazard from a leaking underground storage tank is petroleum or other hazardous substances seeping into the soil and contaminating groundwater, the source of drinking water for many Americans.

The funds will be used for overseeing assessment and cleanup of leaks from underground storage tanks or directly paying for assessment and cleanup of leaks from federally regulated tanks where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling or unable to finance, or the cleanup is an emergency response.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can visit Recovery.gov to see how every dollar is being invested.

Learn more about EPA's implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: https://www.epa.gov/recovery/ and

For information on the implementation on Nez Perce Reservation land, visit:
https://www.epa.gov/region10/eparecovery/