Post by Okwes on Dec 28, 2007 12:45:40 GMT -5
Tainted water heads to Hopi
By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer, June 8, 2007
Also:
_Hopi to fight eagle's delisting _
(_http://www.gallupinhttp://wwwhttp://wwhttp://www.galhttp://www.gallhttp_
(http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/june/060806kh_eagledelisting.html) )
WINDOW ROCK — On the rare occasion the Navajo Nation can convince someone
else to clean up an old uranium mill or mine, it's usually the federal
government that sues the former owner. But the old mill by Tuba City, Ariz.,
which
the Navajo Nation has linked to a migrating plume of contaminated
groundwater
threatening both Navajo and Hopi water supplies, is different.
In a new twist on an old story, it's the former owner of the mill that's
suing the government. The El Paso Natural Gas Company filed suit against the
U.S. Department of Energy in Washington last month. It's accusing the
department
of shirking its responsibility for an unregulated dump and landfill that
allegedly hold waste from the mill and may be leaking contaminants.
Immediate threat
The most immediate threat appears to be to wells serving the Hopi villages
of Upper and Lower Moenkopi. According to Bill Walker, a private geologist
on
contract with the Nation, they lie right in the plume's path.
"Right now the drinking water is safe, but there is a plume moving toward
those wells," he said.
El Paso's decision to step in isn't exactly altruistic. According to its
suit against the Energy Department, the Navajo Nation has threatened to sue
El
Paso, which bought the company the Rare Metals Corporation of America that
used
the mill to make yellowcake for the government's nuclear weapons program in
the 1950s and '60s. If El Paso gets the government to pay for the cleanup,
it
won't have to.
David Taylor, the tribe's lead attorney on uranium matters, put it more
diplomatically. The Navajo Nation hasn't threatened to sue El Paso outright,
he
said. But from the discussions it's had with the company, he added, "it
certainly could be implied."
The tribe asked El Paso what it planned to do about the sites. Its filing
against the Energy Department, he said, "came out of the blue."
The tribe isn't necessarily disappointed with the suit. Taylor said it's
considering joining in. And without taking the blame, El Paso is even
considering doing some remediation at its own expense.
"So it does appear to be willing to take substantial steps out there,"
Taylor said, "without admitting liability."
It's certainly more than what the Energy Department is offering. It referred
The Independent'The Independent'<WBR>s call to the Department of Justice. D
Cinthia Magnuson said it would not comment until it officially responds to
the suit later this month.
But in an April 2004, letter to Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., the
Energy Department makes its position clear enough.
"The DOE did not find any evidence that would support the allegations that
Rare Metals Corporation disposed of contaminated equipment or uranium mill
tailings at the Tuba City landfill," writes Donna Bergman-Tabbert, the
department's land and site management director.
Blame
She doesn't dispute the contamination of the ground water, but refuses to
blame the landfill. Even if she did, it wouldn't do the Navajo Nation much
good. Because the tribe didn't raise concerns about the landfill when the
department was cleaning up the mill under the authority of the Uranium Mill
Tailings
Radiation Control Act, Bergman-Tabbert writes, it wouldn't qualify for the
program anyway.
Walker is sure the connection between the mill and the dump and landfill
exists. Digging through company records, he found out what chemicals Rare
Metals
and El Paso were using to produce their yellowcake. Back at the dump and
landfill, he said, "we found those same chemicals ... so that essentially
establishes the link."
He also found disturbingly high levels of uranium, which has been linked to
kidney failure, and radium, a known human carcinogen. Compared to
"background" levels around the dump of 100 counts per minute, what should be
occurring
naturally, he said, "we were finding levels up to 20,000 counts per minute.
"Let me put it into context," Walker said. "It's so bad that in some places,
if you stand (there) ... you're getting the allowable dose for a year in
just a few minutes."
Seepage
But the threat to the area's water supply is coming from the landfill, where
Walker believes contaminants are seeping into the ground. He hasn't
definitively linked that contamination to the mill just yet, but he's
working on it.
In any case, that contaminated groundwater is moving toward Hopi wells.
Walker worries it could also sink some more, into the Navajo aquifer, which
feeds
Tuba City.
"That aquifer serves thousands of people," Taylor said.
"They use it for basically everything," added Walker, "so if that water gets
contaminated, they basically got a huge problem on their hands."
That water hasn't gotten into any drinking water supplies yet, but the
plants overhead are drinking it, and livestock are eating the plants. "So
any of
those animals that were slaughtered could get contaminants into the body,"
Walker said.
As for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it's taken a stand
somewhere in between. It's not denying a link between the mill and the dump
or
landfill, but it's not as convinced of that link as the tribe either.
When the agency last studied the site, said Andrew Bain, the EPA's remedial
project manager for Region 9's Superfund Division, it found elevated gamma
radiation levels "anomalous to local conditions." It wasn't enough to spur
the
EPA to action. But it was enough, Bain said, to convince the EPA to
"revisit"
the site and find out if it poses any "imminent and substantial
endangerment,endangerment,<WBR>" its benchm
The landfill, meanwhile, is under the watch of Carl Warren, Region 9's
project manager for waste management.
"I think there could be some linkage there," he said, "possible," but not at
least not yet probable.
Warren is more tentative about a link between the landfill and the
contaminated water below. Based on the date he's seen, he said, "whether
that can be
connected to the landfill hasn't been determined yet."
Both the EPA and Navajo Nation are planning more studies. Walker hopes to
find out just how fast the underground plume is moving.
"We have to move fast this summer, because if that plume is moving faster
than we are, we could be in trouble," he said.
Once contaminated, underground water has proven notoriously difficult to
clean.
By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer, June 8, 2007
Also:
_Hopi to fight eagle's delisting _
(_http://www.gallupinhttp://wwwhttp://wwhttp://www.galhttp://www.gallhttp_
(http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/june/060806kh_eagledelisting.html) )
WINDOW ROCK — On the rare occasion the Navajo Nation can convince someone
else to clean up an old uranium mill or mine, it's usually the federal
government that sues the former owner. But the old mill by Tuba City, Ariz.,
which
the Navajo Nation has linked to a migrating plume of contaminated
groundwater
threatening both Navajo and Hopi water supplies, is different.
In a new twist on an old story, it's the former owner of the mill that's
suing the government. The El Paso Natural Gas Company filed suit against the
U.S. Department of Energy in Washington last month. It's accusing the
department
of shirking its responsibility for an unregulated dump and landfill that
allegedly hold waste from the mill and may be leaking contaminants.
Immediate threat
The most immediate threat appears to be to wells serving the Hopi villages
of Upper and Lower Moenkopi. According to Bill Walker, a private geologist
on
contract with the Nation, they lie right in the plume's path.
"Right now the drinking water is safe, but there is a plume moving toward
those wells," he said.
El Paso's decision to step in isn't exactly altruistic. According to its
suit against the Energy Department, the Navajo Nation has threatened to sue
El
Paso, which bought the company the Rare Metals Corporation of America that
used
the mill to make yellowcake for the government's nuclear weapons program in
the 1950s and '60s. If El Paso gets the government to pay for the cleanup,
it
won't have to.
David Taylor, the tribe's lead attorney on uranium matters, put it more
diplomatically. The Navajo Nation hasn't threatened to sue El Paso outright,
he
said. But from the discussions it's had with the company, he added, "it
certainly could be implied."
The tribe asked El Paso what it planned to do about the sites. Its filing
against the Energy Department, he said, "came out of the blue."
The tribe isn't necessarily disappointed with the suit. Taylor said it's
considering joining in. And without taking the blame, El Paso is even
considering doing some remediation at its own expense.
"So it does appear to be willing to take substantial steps out there,"
Taylor said, "without admitting liability."
It's certainly more than what the Energy Department is offering. It referred
The Independent'The Independent'<WBR>s call to the Department of Justice. D
Cinthia Magnuson said it would not comment until it officially responds to
the suit later this month.
But in an April 2004, letter to Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., the
Energy Department makes its position clear enough.
"The DOE did not find any evidence that would support the allegations that
Rare Metals Corporation disposed of contaminated equipment or uranium mill
tailings at the Tuba City landfill," writes Donna Bergman-Tabbert, the
department's land and site management director.
Blame
She doesn't dispute the contamination of the ground water, but refuses to
blame the landfill. Even if she did, it wouldn't do the Navajo Nation much
good. Because the tribe didn't raise concerns about the landfill when the
department was cleaning up the mill under the authority of the Uranium Mill
Tailings
Radiation Control Act, Bergman-Tabbert writes, it wouldn't qualify for the
program anyway.
Walker is sure the connection between the mill and the dump and landfill
exists. Digging through company records, he found out what chemicals Rare
Metals
and El Paso were using to produce their yellowcake. Back at the dump and
landfill, he said, "we found those same chemicals ... so that essentially
establishes the link."
He also found disturbingly high levels of uranium, which has been linked to
kidney failure, and radium, a known human carcinogen. Compared to
"background" levels around the dump of 100 counts per minute, what should be
occurring
naturally, he said, "we were finding levels up to 20,000 counts per minute.
"Let me put it into context," Walker said. "It's so bad that in some places,
if you stand (there) ... you're getting the allowable dose for a year in
just a few minutes."
Seepage
But the threat to the area's water supply is coming from the landfill, where
Walker believes contaminants are seeping into the ground. He hasn't
definitively linked that contamination to the mill just yet, but he's
working on it.
In any case, that contaminated groundwater is moving toward Hopi wells.
Walker worries it could also sink some more, into the Navajo aquifer, which
feeds
Tuba City.
"That aquifer serves thousands of people," Taylor said.
"They use it for basically everything," added Walker, "so if that water gets
contaminated, they basically got a huge problem on their hands."
That water hasn't gotten into any drinking water supplies yet, but the
plants overhead are drinking it, and livestock are eating the plants. "So
any of
those animals that were slaughtered could get contaminants into the body,"
Walker said.
As for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it's taken a stand
somewhere in between. It's not denying a link between the mill and the dump
or
landfill, but it's not as convinced of that link as the tribe either.
When the agency last studied the site, said Andrew Bain, the EPA's remedial
project manager for Region 9's Superfund Division, it found elevated gamma
radiation levels "anomalous to local conditions." It wasn't enough to spur
the
EPA to action. But it was enough, Bain said, to convince the EPA to
"revisit"
the site and find out if it poses any "imminent and substantial
endangerment,endangerment,<WBR>" its benchm
The landfill, meanwhile, is under the watch of Carl Warren, Region 9's
project manager for waste management.
"I think there could be some linkage there," he said, "possible," but not at
least not yet probable.
Warren is more tentative about a link between the landfill and the
contaminated water below. Based on the date he's seen, he said, "whether
that can be
connected to the landfill hasn't been determined yet."
Both the EPA and Navajo Nation are planning more studies. Walker hopes to
find out just how fast the underground plume is moving.
"We have to move fast this summer, because if that plume is moving faster
than we are, we could be in trouble," he said.
Once contaminated, underground water has proven notoriously difficult to
clean.