EPA and U.S. Bureau Of Indian Affairs Agree on Cleanup Plan for Tuba City Dump
Publilshed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
PHOENIX — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to properly clean up and close the Tuba City Dump site, which is located near the villages of Upper and Lower Moenkopi on the Hopi Reservation and Tuba City on the Navajo Nation. As part of that agreement, the BIA will transfer the wastes off Tribal lands, backfill the site with clean fill material, and provide routine groundwater monitoring. EPA takes this action under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to ensure that the BIA handles, stores, treats, transports, and disposes of any solid waste that may impact human health or the environment.
“Hopi and Navajo communities have borne the brunt of legacy pollution for too long. This agreement will ensure the Tuba City Dump is properly cleaned, protecting residents’ health and the environment,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “EPA appreciates that, by signing this agreement, the BIA has strongly committed to expending the resources needed for moving the waste off-site and achieving clean closure.”
Tuba City Dump is a solid waste disposal facility that BIA operated as an unregulated open dump for local Tribal communities from the 1950s to 1997. The site covers about 41 acres and holds approximately 307,000 cubic yards of material in its disposal areas. When the BIA stopped receiving waste at the Tuba City Dump site in 1997, it regraded some of the area before placing a temporary soil cover and encircling the site with a fence. EPA determined that the BIA has not complied with closure requirements, groundwater monitoring, recordkeeping, and other requirements of federal law.
Before this agreement was approved, EPA provided the Tribes’ representatives with an opportunity to review and comment on the draft. In addition, EPA will accept public comments on the agreement through June 28, 2024, and will conduct public meetings on May 28 and 29, 2024, to discuss this long-term project further.
For more information on the public comment period and the public meetings, please visit EPA’s Public Notice: Administrative Order on Consent for Removal and Cleanup of the Tuba City Dump; Hopi Reservation and Navajo Nation (Arizona) webpage.
For more information on RCRA, please visit EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Laws and Regulations webpage.
For more information on groundwater monitoring, please visit EPA’s Ground Water Monitoring Requirements for Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities webpage.
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Read the full article at: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-and-us-bureau-indian-affairs-agree-cleanup-plan-tuba-city-dump
