Leech Lake Air Toxics Project Brandy Toft Air Quality Specialist National Tribal Forum on Air Quality 2011

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Leech Lake Reservation rural area located in North Central Minnesota 864,158 acres, over half is water/wetlands 260 miles of rivers/streams 270 fishable lakes, 40 wildrice lakes Serving 12,000 in 17 communities Part of the 1854 Ceded Territory

Leech Lake Reservation 3 Wood products Wood Products Great Lakes Comp Station 2 Paper mill Waste incinerator Coal EGU 2 Largest MN Coal EGU Waste EGU

Why Air Toxics? No data collected in our area State partnership for toxics monitoring Background 45 miles away Minor source concern Educate the community including the governments

School Enrollment State school 89% Headstart 100%

Minor Source?

Superfund

Who’s Affected? Middle of a small city, Tribal government HQ Tribal members – infants to elders School children 4-18 years of age 8hours per day 5 days per week Non-native neighbors

Toxics Sampling Similar equipment to correlate with MPCA Carbonyls, TSP, VOCs Set up EPA School Toxics site in July Sample during summer months less ground cover, worst case scenario?

Brandy Toft Air Quality Specialist Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe 218-335-7429 air@lldrm.org