Kawerak flags two petroleum-contaminated tank farm sites in Koyuk

Kawerak, Inc. has formally identified two petroleum-contaminated tank farm sites in Koyuk through its Brownfields Program, placing both locations into the documented assessment pipeline backed by federal grant money. The program inventories contaminated sites, assesses contamination levels, and plans cleanup or reuse. That work carries particular weight in Koyuk, where both sites sit in or adjacent to the community's developed area and are tied to its history of bulk fuel storage.

The two sites are the Koyuk Old City Tank Farm, a former two-tank earthen-bermed facility on the community's north end, and the Koyuk Native Corp Tank Farm, a three-tank site carrying active contamination File ID 610.38.003 under state records due to petroleum contamination. The Koyuk Native Corp Tank Farm site is listed as active, meaning the contamination file remains open.

The EPA selected Kawerak for a $300,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant to fund community-wide assessment work across the Bering Strait region. That grant is the federal mechanism moving these sites toward formal evaluation, cleanup planning, or reuse decisions.

The site pages published Thursday document site history and contamination status. They do not yet show new sampling results, enforcement actions, or confirmed health hazards. The immediate development is the formal identification and the grant-funded assessment process now underway.

Koyuk residents and the Koyuk Native Corporation are the parties most directly affected. What the assessment finds will shape whether the sites move toward cleanup or redevelopment, and on what timeline.