Michigan's Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) will receive a $75,000 grant to study pollution risks to its community, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week.

The funding will support a study to determine the types of pollutants in the KBIC area and assess the risks they pose to the tribal community and the creation of informational materials on the findings, the EPA states in the April 19 announcement. The grant is part of the EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) program.

“This EPA EJ funding opportunity will assist KBIC with the completion of a health risk assessment focusing on environmental contaminants,” KBIC President Kim Klopstein said in the announcement. “This study will analyze the impacts of risk values set for the general population that are not reflective of our tribal lifeways and those members who rely on the environment to hunt, fish, and gather.”

Native communities such as the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution in waterways, according to the EPA report, because they harvest large amounts of fish for food and cultural ceremonies. 

The KBIC L'Anse reservation area is under several environmental stressors, the EPA reports, including a currently operating mixed-fuel power plant, and "legacy" pollutants from past copper mining. Toxic byproducts include heavy metals, coal tar, chemicals, nitrates and ammonia compounds, according to the EPA.

The EPA's EJSG program sends grant funding directly to tribes and community-based groups, to be used on projects that address local health and environmental issues, according to the EPA. Long-term goals of EJSG are to assist under-served communities in developing community-based partnerships to improve and preserve their local environments, according to the EPA.

“EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants program helps tribal nations to better understand possible health risks from environmental contamination,” EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore said in the statement. “This funding supports these communities in taking action to ensure that people are protected from environmental risks and potential health hazards.”