by Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau
Gallup
Independent
27 September 2008
WINDOW
ROCK—The Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe are tired of
investigations of the Tuba City Open Dump.
They want
it cleaned up.
Studies
since 1999 have indicated the presence of uranium and other metals
in the dump and shallow groundwater exceed U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency drinking water standards. The tribes have
repeatedly indicated that clean closure — or excavation, removal
and off-site disposal of all buried wastes — is the only
acceptable option to prevent future contamination.
In 2008,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs put together a five-year plan of
action for the open dump site that outlines how it plans to
address the contamination. The tribes have objected to several
components of BIA’s five-year plan, including the need for
additional investigation of the site.
“BIA is
spending more money to study the problem,” said Navajo EPA
Executive Director Stephen B. Etsitty, who was in Washington this
week to give a status report on the five-year cleanup plan from
the tribe’s perspective to the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform. “We’ve all been pushing for immediate
action.”
Etsitty
said there is a lot of criticism being levied against BIA because
“pretty soon the cost of all these studies is going to be more
than the cost of cleaning up. All this action that they’re
taking — just taking more time to study — is going to be
costing more than our recommended solution that goes back 10 to 15
years, which is clean closure,” he said.
A final
interim remedial action report is due in October which will
outline immediate steps to protect the community and address
current public health threats posed by the site. Actions proposed
include fencing the old dump to limit access and reduce potential
exposure.
BIA will
determine the design and Indian Health Service will provide
funding for the fence, which is expected to be installed in 2009
around the boundary of the old cell.
Limited
hot spot removal of the highest concentrations of uranium from the
site is expected in 2009. Contaminated areas will be excavated and
backfilled with clean soil, and the waste shipped off reservation.
The
tribes are seeking immediate interim action to address
contaminated groundwater that is threatening Hopi drinking water
and irrigation supplies. BIA conducted comprehensive groundwater
sampling in May and has installed additional monitoring wells near
Pasture Canyon and the Moenkopi water wells.
The
results from shallow groundwater monitoring have identified
elevated levels of contaminants near the site, among them:
uranium, arsenic, chloride, lead, chromium, strontium, vanadium,
and gross alpha and beta activity. Uranium has been detected at
concentrations up to eight times greater than the drinking water
standard of 30 micrograms per liter.
Supply
wells and springs located within 4,000 to 7,000 feet of the site
provide drinking water and irrigation to the villages of Upper
Moenkopi and Lower Moencopi.
Contaminants
above the drinking water standard have been detected within 2,600
feet of the supply wells and springs.
BIA is
conducting additional groundwater investigations to determine
whether interim action is needed to protect the water sources.
Initial assessments indicate contamination may be coming from
locations other than the dump site, such as the Tuba City Uranium
Mill Tailings site located about four miles northeast of the open
dump site, and the U.S.160 site located directly across from the
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act site.
Etsitty
said the Navajo Nation will continue working with the Department
of Energy at the Rare Metals Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation
Control Act site for a possible connection between any
contaminants that may have been transported from that facility
over to the open dump, “although DOE is pushing back, saying it’s
impossible for something like that to have happened.”
“It
looks like we’re going to get some extra resources to put in
some more monitoring wells to kind of test some hypotheses that we’ve
been offering up about the movement of uranium contaminants in the
ground.”
Etsitty
said there is legislation in the House of Representatives
pertaining to the Highway 160 site, an illegal dump from the past
that was uncovered by wind and water erosion. The legislation
would give DOE renewed authority to clean up and treat the site as
a vicinity property under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation
Control Act.
“That
authority expired in 1997, so they need to go back and get it
renewed for that site. It’s being proposed that they get an
appropriation, in coordination with that authority, to the tune of
$5 million,” Etsitty said. Now, they’re trying to get the same
legislation and appropriation on the Senate side.
“It’s
a pretty hard row to hoe when you only have legislation on one
side of the House and they don’t match up on the Senate side,”
he said.
Copyright © 2008 Gallup
Independent
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