Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 29, 2005 22:40:27 GMT -5
Trash and the tribes
Governments deal with costs of illegal dumping on Indian lands
By Debra Utacia Krol
Arizona Capitol Times correspondent
Janet Johnson recalls her latest experience with dumping in her
community with dismay.
"I went to put up signs directing people to the Native American
Recognition Days opening ceremony," says Ms. Johnson, the community
relations manager for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
and an Akimel O'odham, or Pima. "The very next day, when I returned
to take them down, I saw that somebody had dumped an entire furniture
set at the corner of Alma School and Oak."
The Salt River reservation, which adjoins Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and
Fountain Hills, is a prime target for illegal dumping. Everything
from abandoned dogs to construction debris is left somewhere on the
53,000-acre reservation, all from non-Indians. Assessment and cleanup
consumes a good portion of the 8,000-member tribe's public works
budget, and keeps a two-person crew busy. And the tribal court
prosecutes dumping cases regularly, when the police can catch the
perpetrators in the act.
But Salt River's experience is not unique among Arizona's 22 American
Indian tribes. Nearly every reservation has had or will have a
problem with non-Indians dumping stripped vehicles, household and
commercial waste, drug lab contaminated equipment and even human
bodies on their lands. And they often must act alone in prevention
and mitigation efforts.
Tudor Montague, a specialist with the Salt River tribe's
environmental department, sees a lot of dumps. "Whenever people see a
vacant piece of land, they dump on it," says Mr. Montague. "Over by
the Pavilions area, there have been a couple large sites."
"People just don't want to pay at our dump," says Randy Watkins, an
environmental control officer for the tribe. "When the Salt River
Landfill is closed, they go south of Gilbert Road and just dump it."
And even after spending $30,000 for signs prohibiting trespass and
dumping, the incidents continue.
Debris and toxic waste
In addition to construction debris and furniture, the tribe must also
contend with more toxic waste like used motor oil drums, leftover
paint, used paint thinner and latex paint wash. "The police
department caught a guy with a truck full of hydro sludge [liquid
wastes from construction projects, oil tanks, septic tanks and other
industrial liquid waste products]. It's at least the third one in the
past three to four months," says Mr. Montague, "not to mention all
the cars and furniture that are dumped."
Mr. Watkins says he's called out twice a month on average to assess
the possible toxicity of a dump site. "We're lucky," says Mr.
Watkins. "Most of the time, it's just solid waste. Just a few times a
year, we're having to clean up hazardous waste." However, the tribe
must test slurry and other liquid and chemical dumps for toxic
chemicals, which is very expensive, says Mr. Watkins. Each test costs
$1,000.
The tribe must "eat the bill when we can't locate the perpetrator,"
says Mr. Montague. Although the tribe can't say how much it spends in
cleanup, Mr. Montague says it is a significant portion of the
environmental department's budget. The public works department must
also pay overtime and other expenses to clean up the trash and take
it to the tribe's solid waste facility, costs which are very
difficult to track.
Stolen cars
Then there's the problem with abandoned vehicles. Salt River Police
Department Sgt. Virgil Pinto says that his 72-officer force deals
with more than 250 stolen vehicles each year.
When the Salt River police encounter a dump or abandoned vehicle,
they first assess the situation. "If there is an illegal dump, Randy
is called to take photos and perform an environmental assessment,"
says Mr. Pinto. If the dumper is caught in the act, "The police
department does a report, the vehicle is confiscated, the driver is
issued a citation," says Mr. Pinto. The tribe's civil attorney
receives the report for filing a case.
Because federal law prohibits criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians,
the only remedy the tribe can pursue is civil action, says Mr. Pinto.
If criminal charges are justified, they must be filed in state court.
The tribe also works with the U.S. Attorney's Office if the offense
is federal, says Mr. Pinto.
Fines range from $1,000 and up, plus the vehicle impound fee. The
fine is doubled if the tribe must perform a toxicity test, says Mr.
Watkins. Impounding the vehicle is the only way to force dumpers to
show up in court, says Mr. Pinto.
If an abandoned vehicle is found to be stolen and is unoccupied, it's
processed and the police department in the city where the vehicle is
registered is notified. "We do our best to contact the owner," says
Mr. Pinto. "It they can come right out, the cop will wait for the
owner." Otherwise, the vehicle is towed to an impound yard in Tempe,
off the reservation.
Mr. Pinto says that Salt River has good relations with other police
departments, including mutual aid agreements and a "hot pursuit"
policy, where Salt River police can call the neighboring department
to take over pursuing a suspect off-reservation.
Despite the fact that virtually all the dumping is from non-Indians,
though, the state hasn't been able to provide much assistance to
tribes in prevention or mitigation. "We receive no state funding
unless it's for a toxic dump, then it's very limited," says Mr.
Montague.
Courtland Coleman, communications director for the Arizona Department
of Environmental Quality, says, "When it comes to issues that are
under federal jurisdiction, we have no authority over tribal lands.
Our director, Steve Owens emphasizes that it's the Environmental
Protection Agency's job, not ours."
However, ADEQ does have a tribal consultation policy; the policy
includes respecting tribal sovereignty, providing technical
assistance, identifying funding opportunities for "mutual interests"
and the development of intergovernmental agreements. "Whenever
possible, we do work with and provide support to tribes," says Mr.
Coleman. "In March 2005, we helped the San Xavier District hold a
household hazardous waste collection with a $5,000 waste reduction
assistance award." The agency also has a tribal liaison who helps
coordinate projects with tribal governments and brings issues to
EPA's attention, says Mr. Coleman.
Nor are tribes currently represented on the Department of Public
Safety's auto theft task force. "This may be due to the [tribal
police] agencies not being able to afford paying the salary to send
an officer for the task force," says DPS spokesman Frank Valenzuela.
DPS does pay for overtime and vehicle expenses for officers released
to serve on the task force, however.
The federal government does provide some help, though. Heather White
of EPA's Tribal Solid Interagency Workgroup helps coordinate federal
agencies' assistance to tribal solid waste management programs. The
workgroup includes representatives from various federal agencies
including the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Service, among
others.
This group administers the Tribal Solid Waste Management Assistance
Grant Project, which awards roughly $2 million in annual grants to
tribes throughout the United States. "The grant program funds solid
waste infrastructure and capacity building projects, which include
illegal dump cleanups and prevention programs," says Ms. White. Since
1999, more than $3.4 million has been committed to solid waste
projects on Arizona tribal lands. Mr. Watkins says that Salt River
does get general assistance funding from EPA to help with its illegal
dumping problem.
In addition, Ms. White says that Arizona tribes have received
substantial funding to address illegal dumps through both the EPA
General Assistance Program and the EPA Region 9 Resource Conservation
Funds. And on Oct. 31, EPA announced that Arizona tribes have been
awarded an additional $13.4 million for various environmental
projects, including solid waste projects.
"In 2004, EPA awarded the Tohono O'odham Nation a $50,000 grant to
address increased illegal dumping along the U.S.-Mexico border," says
Wendy Chavez, a public information officer for EPA's Region 9, which
serves the Western states. Tohono O'odham estimates that
approximately 1,500 undocumented migrants cross the reservation every
day – leaving behind over six tons of solid waste on tribal land
daily, says Ms. Chavez.
The Tohono O'odham Nation shares more than 60 miles of border with
Mexico, the largest international border of any tribe in the United
States. "As part of the nine-month pilot project, Tohono O'odham
workers will clean up dump sites and determine if the waste can be
recycled or sold," says Ms. Chavez. If successful, the project may
result in a sustainable program that will cover costs for future
cleanups.
The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona's Tribal Solid Waste Program also
helps tribes address illegal dumping within their homelands. "ITCA
recognizes that many tribal nations in Arizona struggle with this
problem and have been looking for solutions to prevent illegal
dumping from occurring on their lands," says Cynthia Naha, ITCA's
solid waste program coordinator.
"Illegal dumping continues to be a problem many tribal nations deal
with on a day-to-day basis and affects the overall safety, health,
and environment of tribal people," says Ms. Naha. ITCA helps tribes
develop codes and ordinances to prohibit and deal with illegal
dumping in their communities. Ms. Naha adds that ITCA is also
considering providing additional training on compliance and
enforcement options for tribes.
Tribe fights back
One Arizona tribe that has enjoyed success with its anti-dumping
protocols is the Ak-Chin Indian Community. The 21,800-acre
reservation, located 40 miles south of Phoenix, was once considered a
remote rural community. However, with more than 40,000 new homes
either in place or planned over the next decade in the region, Ak-
Chin was feeling the pain of urban encroachment.
The 650-member tribe decided to take action to ensure that its land
would get cleaned up and stay that way. In 2001, the tribal council
enacted Title 11 to its code, says Kendra Tso, Ak-Chin's
environmental department director. The code requires people wanting
to burn or otherwise haul solid wastes to obtain a permit, and
strengthens the penalties for violations, including illegal dumping.
The tribe also cleaned up all the illegal dump sites on its lands and
hauled away more than 100 abandoned vehicles.
An EPA grant funds a variety of tribal anti-dumping programs,
including signs, roll-off bins, the establishment of the ordinance
and building the tribe's capacity to enforce the environmental code,
says Ms. Tso. The tribe conducts educational projects for the
community and shares news of its environmental efforts with
neighboring communities, including the city of Maricopa. And a GIS
system helps the tribe pinpoint and monitor trouble sites, such as
cultural sites that could be impacted by illegal dumps.
Each year during Earth Day, Ak-Chin's leadership joins with the
community and enterprises to sponsor two days of roadway cleanup, and
has joined the state's "Adopt-a-Highway" campaign. "This year's Earth
Day event was only one day, because it's cleaner here," says Ms.
Tso. "The goal is to preserve and protect the natural resources we
have here in the reservation."
The tribe's children also get into the clean earth act. "One year,
our vice-chairperson Delia Carlyle volunteered to be Mother Earth,"
says Ms. Tso. "We adorned her costume with trash like a diaper, beer
cans and the like. The kids would pick trash off her."
Ak-Chin is also planning a household hazardous waste collection with
Maricopa or Pinal County. "The word is getting out there [about the
proper way to dump waste]," says Ms. Tso. "It's got to be a
continuing education."
All these programs, grants and partnerships are starting to have an
effect in some tribal communities. "Lately, we have not found any
dumps," says Ms. Tso. After a June 2005 article and opinion piece in
the Scottsdale Republic condemning the illegal dumping, Salt River
saw its dumping ease up slightly for a few months. And the Fort
McDowell Yavapai Nation, located 35 miles northeast of Phoenix, has
not had any dumping problems since its police department stepped up
patrols over the past two years.
Arizona tribes' efforts to prevent and clean up illegal dumps on
their lands are just a beginning, though. And the emotional impact of
dumping trash on reservations is even greater than the environmental
damage. Mr. Pinto, who's a Navajo, says that the dumping problem on
his reservation is "terrible. It's a real eyesore, especially within
my [land] unit. We come across eyesores all the time. It bothers me."
Ms. Johnson adds that these dumps are "disrespectful to our people.
We take pride in the lands we do have, and we have to protect it for
the future."
Governments deal with costs of illegal dumping on Indian lands
By Debra Utacia Krol
Arizona Capitol Times correspondent
Janet Johnson recalls her latest experience with dumping in her
community with dismay.
"I went to put up signs directing people to the Native American
Recognition Days opening ceremony," says Ms. Johnson, the community
relations manager for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
and an Akimel O'odham, or Pima. "The very next day, when I returned
to take them down, I saw that somebody had dumped an entire furniture
set at the corner of Alma School and Oak."
The Salt River reservation, which adjoins Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and
Fountain Hills, is a prime target for illegal dumping. Everything
from abandoned dogs to construction debris is left somewhere on the
53,000-acre reservation, all from non-Indians. Assessment and cleanup
consumes a good portion of the 8,000-member tribe's public works
budget, and keeps a two-person crew busy. And the tribal court
prosecutes dumping cases regularly, when the police can catch the
perpetrators in the act.
But Salt River's experience is not unique among Arizona's 22 American
Indian tribes. Nearly every reservation has had or will have a
problem with non-Indians dumping stripped vehicles, household and
commercial waste, drug lab contaminated equipment and even human
bodies on their lands. And they often must act alone in prevention
and mitigation efforts.
Tudor Montague, a specialist with the Salt River tribe's
environmental department, sees a lot of dumps. "Whenever people see a
vacant piece of land, they dump on it," says Mr. Montague. "Over by
the Pavilions area, there have been a couple large sites."
"People just don't want to pay at our dump," says Randy Watkins, an
environmental control officer for the tribe. "When the Salt River
Landfill is closed, they go south of Gilbert Road and just dump it."
And even after spending $30,000 for signs prohibiting trespass and
dumping, the incidents continue.
Debris and toxic waste
In addition to construction debris and furniture, the tribe must also
contend with more toxic waste like used motor oil drums, leftover
paint, used paint thinner and latex paint wash. "The police
department caught a guy with a truck full of hydro sludge [liquid
wastes from construction projects, oil tanks, septic tanks and other
industrial liquid waste products]. It's at least the third one in the
past three to four months," says Mr. Montague, "not to mention all
the cars and furniture that are dumped."
Mr. Watkins says he's called out twice a month on average to assess
the possible toxicity of a dump site. "We're lucky," says Mr.
Watkins. "Most of the time, it's just solid waste. Just a few times a
year, we're having to clean up hazardous waste." However, the tribe
must test slurry and other liquid and chemical dumps for toxic
chemicals, which is very expensive, says Mr. Watkins. Each test costs
$1,000.
The tribe must "eat the bill when we can't locate the perpetrator,"
says Mr. Montague. Although the tribe can't say how much it spends in
cleanup, Mr. Montague says it is a significant portion of the
environmental department's budget. The public works department must
also pay overtime and other expenses to clean up the trash and take
it to the tribe's solid waste facility, costs which are very
difficult to track.
Stolen cars
Then there's the problem with abandoned vehicles. Salt River Police
Department Sgt. Virgil Pinto says that his 72-officer force deals
with more than 250 stolen vehicles each year.
When the Salt River police encounter a dump or abandoned vehicle,
they first assess the situation. "If there is an illegal dump, Randy
is called to take photos and perform an environmental assessment,"
says Mr. Pinto. If the dumper is caught in the act, "The police
department does a report, the vehicle is confiscated, the driver is
issued a citation," says Mr. Pinto. The tribe's civil attorney
receives the report for filing a case.
Because federal law prohibits criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians,
the only remedy the tribe can pursue is civil action, says Mr. Pinto.
If criminal charges are justified, they must be filed in state court.
The tribe also works with the U.S. Attorney's Office if the offense
is federal, says Mr. Pinto.
Fines range from $1,000 and up, plus the vehicle impound fee. The
fine is doubled if the tribe must perform a toxicity test, says Mr.
Watkins. Impounding the vehicle is the only way to force dumpers to
show up in court, says Mr. Pinto.
If an abandoned vehicle is found to be stolen and is unoccupied, it's
processed and the police department in the city where the vehicle is
registered is notified. "We do our best to contact the owner," says
Mr. Pinto. "It they can come right out, the cop will wait for the
owner." Otherwise, the vehicle is towed to an impound yard in Tempe,
off the reservation.
Mr. Pinto says that Salt River has good relations with other police
departments, including mutual aid agreements and a "hot pursuit"
policy, where Salt River police can call the neighboring department
to take over pursuing a suspect off-reservation.
Despite the fact that virtually all the dumping is from non-Indians,
though, the state hasn't been able to provide much assistance to
tribes in prevention or mitigation. "We receive no state funding
unless it's for a toxic dump, then it's very limited," says Mr.
Montague.
Courtland Coleman, communications director for the Arizona Department
of Environmental Quality, says, "When it comes to issues that are
under federal jurisdiction, we have no authority over tribal lands.
Our director, Steve Owens emphasizes that it's the Environmental
Protection Agency's job, not ours."
However, ADEQ does have a tribal consultation policy; the policy
includes respecting tribal sovereignty, providing technical
assistance, identifying funding opportunities for "mutual interests"
and the development of intergovernmental agreements. "Whenever
possible, we do work with and provide support to tribes," says Mr.
Coleman. "In March 2005, we helped the San Xavier District hold a
household hazardous waste collection with a $5,000 waste reduction
assistance award." The agency also has a tribal liaison who helps
coordinate projects with tribal governments and brings issues to
EPA's attention, says Mr. Coleman.
Nor are tribes currently represented on the Department of Public
Safety's auto theft task force. "This may be due to the [tribal
police] agencies not being able to afford paying the salary to send
an officer for the task force," says DPS spokesman Frank Valenzuela.
DPS does pay for overtime and vehicle expenses for officers released
to serve on the task force, however.
The federal government does provide some help, though. Heather White
of EPA's Tribal Solid Interagency Workgroup helps coordinate federal
agencies' assistance to tribal solid waste management programs. The
workgroup includes representatives from various federal agencies
including the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Service, among
others.
This group administers the Tribal Solid Waste Management Assistance
Grant Project, which awards roughly $2 million in annual grants to
tribes throughout the United States. "The grant program funds solid
waste infrastructure and capacity building projects, which include
illegal dump cleanups and prevention programs," says Ms. White. Since
1999, more than $3.4 million has been committed to solid waste
projects on Arizona tribal lands. Mr. Watkins says that Salt River
does get general assistance funding from EPA to help with its illegal
dumping problem.
In addition, Ms. White says that Arizona tribes have received
substantial funding to address illegal dumps through both the EPA
General Assistance Program and the EPA Region 9 Resource Conservation
Funds. And on Oct. 31, EPA announced that Arizona tribes have been
awarded an additional $13.4 million for various environmental
projects, including solid waste projects.
"In 2004, EPA awarded the Tohono O'odham Nation a $50,000 grant to
address increased illegal dumping along the U.S.-Mexico border," says
Wendy Chavez, a public information officer for EPA's Region 9, which
serves the Western states. Tohono O'odham estimates that
approximately 1,500 undocumented migrants cross the reservation every
day – leaving behind over six tons of solid waste on tribal land
daily, says Ms. Chavez.
The Tohono O'odham Nation shares more than 60 miles of border with
Mexico, the largest international border of any tribe in the United
States. "As part of the nine-month pilot project, Tohono O'odham
workers will clean up dump sites and determine if the waste can be
recycled or sold," says Ms. Chavez. If successful, the project may
result in a sustainable program that will cover costs for future
cleanups.
The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona's Tribal Solid Waste Program also
helps tribes address illegal dumping within their homelands. "ITCA
recognizes that many tribal nations in Arizona struggle with this
problem and have been looking for solutions to prevent illegal
dumping from occurring on their lands," says Cynthia Naha, ITCA's
solid waste program coordinator.
"Illegal dumping continues to be a problem many tribal nations deal
with on a day-to-day basis and affects the overall safety, health,
and environment of tribal people," says Ms. Naha. ITCA helps tribes
develop codes and ordinances to prohibit and deal with illegal
dumping in their communities. Ms. Naha adds that ITCA is also
considering providing additional training on compliance and
enforcement options for tribes.
Tribe fights back
One Arizona tribe that has enjoyed success with its anti-dumping
protocols is the Ak-Chin Indian Community. The 21,800-acre
reservation, located 40 miles south of Phoenix, was once considered a
remote rural community. However, with more than 40,000 new homes
either in place or planned over the next decade in the region, Ak-
Chin was feeling the pain of urban encroachment.
The 650-member tribe decided to take action to ensure that its land
would get cleaned up and stay that way. In 2001, the tribal council
enacted Title 11 to its code, says Kendra Tso, Ak-Chin's
environmental department director. The code requires people wanting
to burn or otherwise haul solid wastes to obtain a permit, and
strengthens the penalties for violations, including illegal dumping.
The tribe also cleaned up all the illegal dump sites on its lands and
hauled away more than 100 abandoned vehicles.
An EPA grant funds a variety of tribal anti-dumping programs,
including signs, roll-off bins, the establishment of the ordinance
and building the tribe's capacity to enforce the environmental code,
says Ms. Tso. The tribe conducts educational projects for the
community and shares news of its environmental efforts with
neighboring communities, including the city of Maricopa. And a GIS
system helps the tribe pinpoint and monitor trouble sites, such as
cultural sites that could be impacted by illegal dumps.
Each year during Earth Day, Ak-Chin's leadership joins with the
community and enterprises to sponsor two days of roadway cleanup, and
has joined the state's "Adopt-a-Highway" campaign. "This year's Earth
Day event was only one day, because it's cleaner here," says Ms.
Tso. "The goal is to preserve and protect the natural resources we
have here in the reservation."
The tribe's children also get into the clean earth act. "One year,
our vice-chairperson Delia Carlyle volunteered to be Mother Earth,"
says Ms. Tso. "We adorned her costume with trash like a diaper, beer
cans and the like. The kids would pick trash off her."
Ak-Chin is also planning a household hazardous waste collection with
Maricopa or Pinal County. "The word is getting out there [about the
proper way to dump waste]," says Ms. Tso. "It's got to be a
continuing education."
All these programs, grants and partnerships are starting to have an
effect in some tribal communities. "Lately, we have not found any
dumps," says Ms. Tso. After a June 2005 article and opinion piece in
the Scottsdale Republic condemning the illegal dumping, Salt River
saw its dumping ease up slightly for a few months. And the Fort
McDowell Yavapai Nation, located 35 miles northeast of Phoenix, has
not had any dumping problems since its police department stepped up
patrols over the past two years.
Arizona tribes' efforts to prevent and clean up illegal dumps on
their lands are just a beginning, though. And the emotional impact of
dumping trash on reservations is even greater than the environmental
damage. Mr. Pinto, who's a Navajo, says that the dumping problem on
his reservation is "terrible. It's a real eyesore, especially within
my [land] unit. We come across eyesores all the time. It bothers me."
Ms. Johnson adds that these dumps are "disrespectful to our people.
We take pride in the lands we do have, and we have to protect it for
the future."