Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
5/8/2015
The United States will place $13.2 million into an environmental response trust that will pay for evaluations of 16 priority abandoned uranium mines located across Navajo lands, the Department of Justice announced late last week. Because the U.S. government could not identify responsible parties for these 16 sites, the funds come as a settlement for part of the government’s responsibility in the cleanup, the DOJ said. The $13.2 million will go toward evaluations and site characterizations needed before final remediation decisions are made at the priority sites. The U.S. settlement comes in addition to the almost $1 billion dollar Anadarko Petroleum Corporation settlement from earlier this year that resulted from years of environmental contamination and mismanagement at sites across the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico. That money will go toward the cleanup of radioactive contamination at approximately 50 abandoned uranium mines in and around the Navajo Nation.
This first phase settlement represents the government’s effort to resolve historic grievances with American Indian tribes, according to the DOJ. “This agreement is part of the Justice Department’s increased focus on environmental and health concerns in Indian country as well as the commitment of the Obama Administration to fairly resolve the historic grievances of American Indian tribes and build a healthier future for their people,” John Cruden, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement. “The site evaluations focus on the mines that pose the most significant hazards and will form a foundation for their final cleanup. In partnership with our sister federal agencies, we will also continue our work to address the legacy of uranium mining on Navajo lands, including ongoing discussions with the Navajo Nation.”
Navajo EPA Teaming with U.S. EPA to Implement Funds
The Navajo Environmental Protection Agency will take the lead in organizing and implementing the site characterizations, while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will serve as a partner in the process. “EPA is proud to help implement this historic settlement,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld said in a statement. “It dovetails with our ongoing activities as we work together to make real progress on the environmental legacy of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.” The EPA, though, declined to comment this week on a timeline moving forward or how it planned to begin the process.
Assessing contaminated sites within the Navajo Nation and focusing on the cleanup of the Northeast Church Rock Mine Site and Tuba City Dump topped the priority list for the Environmental Protection Agency and four other federal agencies in their second five year plan to address the uranium contamination within the Navajo Nation, released last year. The five year plan attempted to better define the work needed to be completed along with clearer roles for each involved federal agency, including the EPA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, the Indian Health Service, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, in consultation with the Navajo Nation.
Navajo Celebrates Funds, But More Needed
Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly celebrated the settlement funds, but he warned the U.S. still has more responsibility in the cleanup process. “I welcome this preliminary settlement agreement that will address 16 abandoned uranium mine sites,” Shelly said in a statement. “We have always said the U.S. is responsible for the cleanup of uranium legacy sites.” He added, “The Navajo Nation is working with U.S. EPA for cleanup of uranium contamination that was abandoned upon tribal lands after the Cold War. Countless Navajos have suffered from the health and environmental impacts from this contamination. It is our hope the U.S. will finally accept responsibility for the cleanup of this uranium contamination.”
