Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/11/2014
The Navajo Nation last week received approximately $1 billion in a settlement that will aid in the cleanup of 50 abandoned uranium mine sites across the tribe’s land. The money comes in conjunction with a larger settlement from the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of Kerr-McGee Corporation, which agreed last week to a settlement with the Department of Justice for $5.15 billion, a record sum for the cleanup of environmental contamination in DOJ history. “Under the settlement, Anadarko will pay these funds into a trust that will be used primarily for environmental cleanup of contaminated sites across 22 states and the Navajo Nation,” DOJ Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a statement last week. “Approximately 88 percent of the recovery will pay for federal, state, local, and tribal cleanups, and approximately 12 percent will pay the tort claims of people who have health effects from the pollution. Many of these sites are located in rural, tribal and urban communities that have historically borne a disproportionate burden from pollution.”
The settlement stems from a bankruptcy proceeding for Tronox Limited, a company spun off by Kerr-Mcgee in 2005 as part of a company re-organization that tried to place all the environmental legacy responsibilities onto Tronox in 2008 while Kerr-McGee kept the lucrative oil and gas exploration part of the company. Saddled with the expensive legacy payments, Tronox was forced to file for bankruptcy while Kerr-Mcgee was bought in 2006 by Anadarko Petroleum. In December 2013, a United States Bankruptcy Court found “that the Kerr-McGee Unit of Anadarko Petroleum committed a fraudulent conveyance in trying to separate Kerr-McGee’s oil and gas assets from its legacy liabilities and was liable for substantial damages attributed to this fraud,” according to Coles.
Navajo Nation Plans Cleanup
The money earmarked for the Navajo Nation will go to a cleanup effort attempting to rid the tribal area of radioactively-contaminated sites. According to Stephen Etsitty, manager of the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency, preliminary site characterization of some of the mines has already begun, but he emphasized that the cleanup was in its infancy. “Primarily, in the past six years, we have had the beginnings of some site characterizations work, which is helpful,” Etsitty told RW Monitor. “In the first five years of this five year planning effort, we have had the ability to go out and do some more of these site characterizations to get better information on the conditions at these sites. But, those are all preliminary or precursory actions before cleanup actually begins at any location. Some of these sites require more investigation and assessment before we actually figure out a set of options for cleanup so we are still at a very preliminary stage.”
Etsitty indicated that they have identified the highest priority site, but are waiting on approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy before moving forward with any plans. “For the actual cleanup to start, it’s going to be a matter of which sites are going to be the least problematic to address, and those will probably get done in a faster timeframe than the more complex sites that we find,” Etsitty said. “We have our largest, highest priority mine site already identified. It’s called the Northeast Church Rock Mine.” He also said that they are waiting for a license amendment approval to the United Nuclear Cooperation Superfund site, which is where the waste material from the Northeast Church Rock Mine will go. The United Nuclear Cooperation Superfund already has a developed waste repository cell on-site, but it would need an amendment to accept the mine waste.
More Still Needs to Be Done, Sen. Says
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said that the settlement was a step in the right direction, but more still needs to be done. “The Navajo Nation has fought hard, and today’s settlement helps to right a historic injustice to the Navajo people, the surrounding communities, and the environment,” Udall said in a statement. “But while this settlement applies to 50 abandoned sites and the radioactive remains left at the Shiprock Mill, an estimated 521 abandoned uranium mines are spread across the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. This settlement is a big step forward, but even decades after mining operations closed up shop, we still don’t know the full scope of contamination. It remains a monumental injustice, and I will closely follow the progress of cleanup conducted with these funds and help the Navajo Nation continue the fight until the job is done.”
Navajo President Ben Shelly echoed Udall’s statement. ““I am proud to say ahe’hee to the Navajo people for your patience and prayers,” Shelly said. “The settlement will be a great help in restoring the abandoned uranium mine sites, but we must not forget about the 460 other sites still in need of cleanup funds.”
