=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #404
(formerly RACHEL’s HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS)
—August 25, 1994—
News and resources for environmental justice.
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VIOLENCE IN INDIAN COUNTRY OVER WASTE
Violence has erupted in southern California where large amounts
of toxic sewage sludge are being illegally dumped on Indian lands
while federal officials look the other way. With federal law
enforcement in a state of collapse, community leaders and
activists are fighting the sludge dumpers in virtual hand-to-hand
combat. On August 6, an Indian youth, Michael Hamilton, 14, was
found dead near Anza, California, shot twice in the head. The
boy’s aunt, Rose Ann Hamilton, has been an outspoken opponent of
the sludge dumping on land owned by the Torres-Martinez Desert
Cahuilla Indians, near Thermal, in southern California. Ms.
Hamilton says her own life was threatened August 4. She believes
her nephew was killed in connection with her and her community’s
ongoing opposition to waste dumping on six Indian reservations in
southern California, including Torres-Martinez near Thermal;
Cahuilla near Anza; the Soboba Indian Reservation near Valle
Vista; the Los Coyotes Band of Mission Indians, near Warner
Springs; the Cabezon Band of Mission Indians near Coachella; and
the Campo Indians near Campo.
During the night of August 7th, the San Ysabel home of Marina
Ortega, a well-known environmental justice activist, was raked by
gunfire from an automatic weapon. Ms. Ortega’s daughter and
infant grandchild were in the house at the time but no one was
hit. The local sheriff has refused to investigate.
According to the DESERT SUN newspaper in Palm Springs, the
situation continues to deteriorate because federal officials have
refused to step in and enforce federal law. As a result, the
community itself is moving to stop the dumping through direct
action. Some 40 Indians and environmentalists formed a human
blockade at the Torres-Martinez dump site August 4th, preventing
at least a dozen trucks from dumping their loads of sewage sludge
laced with toxic metals and persistent organic compounds. The
activists endured triple-digit heat, buzzing flies and foul odors
as they stood vigil all day, preventing trucks from entering the
dump site, according to the RIVERSIDE PRESS ENTERPRISE August 5.
“We’ve got family members whose kids have gotten sick from the
dump,” said Mary Belardo, chairperson of the Torres-Martinez
tribe.
According to the PRESS-ENTERPRISE, in February and March of this
year, water samples drawn by state officials, and by a
hydrogeologist hired by the sludge-dump operators, revealed
higher-than-natural levels of arsenic, chromium, cadmium, lead,
and nitrates in five local wells. Other wells have not shown
contamination.
The Torres-Martinez tribal council –the elected government of
the tribe –passed a resolution August 5th noting that the Bureau
of Indian Affairs has issued two “cease and desist” orders
against the dumping but has failed to enforce its own orders.
The tribal council itself had passed a resolution January 10,
1994, calling for an end to the waste dumping on Torres-Martinez
lands.
The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), with headquarters in
Bemidji, Minnesota, issued a nationwide call August 16th for
environmental justice groups and human rights organizations to
focus urgent attention on the waste wars on Indian land in
southern California. Mary Belardo, tribal chairperson of the
Torres Martinez tribe, has asked for a meeting with Carol
Browner, chief of U.S. EPA [Environmental Protection Agency],
Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of Interior, and Attorney General Janet
Reno, but so far federal officials have ignored her pleas.
President Clinton issued an executive order on environmental
justice February 11, 1994; in it, he ordered all federal agencies
“to the greatest extent practicable” to make “achieving
environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and
addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse
human health or environmental effects of its programs.” Section
6-606 of that executive order specifically applied the order to
Indian lands. Federal environmental and Indian agencies appear
to be ignoring the President.
According to the resolution passed by the Torres-Martinez tribal
council August 5, half a million tons (a billion pounds) of
industrially-contaminated sewage sludge lie heaped on the
Torres-Martinez reservation. The sludge was brought in by
corporations named Chino Corona Farms, Inc., Terra Farms, Inc.,
and “Kellogg Supply Co. and/or HCK Company.” Chino Corona Farms
has since “vanished from California and the United States,” the
council resolution says. The sludge was dumped on land owned by
Geraldine Ibanez, a tribal member, and by other Ibanez family
members, with the Ibanezes’ consent, starting in 1989.
Executives of the corporations claim they are running a
“recycling” and composting operation, not a waste dump, and thus
are exempt from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), the nation’s federal waste management law.
However, other federal law (25 U.S.C. ยง 415 and 25 CFR Part 162)
requires a signed contract, approved by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA), before such dumping would be legal. The BIA (in
the Interior Department), is obligated under law to uphold the
federal government’s trust responsibility for Indian lands.
Because massive quantities of toxin-contaminated waste are
involved, approval of such a contract would be a “significant
federal action” with major environmental impacts, so approval
should be accompanied by a full environmental impact statement or
at least an environmental assessment, as required by the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). However, no contract was
signed, and no environmental studies were undertaken. This means
the sludge dump is doubly illegal. As the Torres-Martinez
council said in its resolution August 5, the corporations running
the dump “are in trespass on federally-owned Indian trust
property.”
In an editorial August 8, the DESERT SUN in Palm Springs blamed
the BIA for the violence. “The confused response of BIA
officials to the issue has created a volatile and increasingly
dangerous situation,” the SUN said.
The SUN also said in an earlier editorial that U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has evaded its responsibilities in the matter.
EPA claims it has no authority to protect groundwater on the
Torres-Martinez reservation because the sludge was dumped
illegally. “Even after months of repeated complaints by residents
and state officials, the EPA still has failed to perform basic
groundwater testing at the site,” the DESERT SUN said in an
editorial February 1, 1994. “The agency, which enforces
environmental laws on all Indian-owned land, has failed miserably
in its responsibility to protect the public,” the SUN said.
According to Indigenous Environmental Network national
coordinator Tom Goldtooth, both BIA and EPA are actively
promoting waste dumping on Indian lands. Marina Ortega has
videotaped federal officials saying they lack authority to stop
the sludge dumping on Torres-Martinez lands and in the next
breath offering to help Indian tribes develop their own
regulatory programs so they too get the economic benefits that
come with a waste dump.
Many Indian communities in southern California find themselves in
conflict over waste proposals or waste operations on their lands.
** For at least two years, the Cahuilla Band near Anza has been
trying to stop a toxic waste dump operating on its land. A
tribal member organized the Candelaria Land Company, which is
reportedly accepting petroleum-contaminated soil, sewage sludge,
and perhaps other toxic wastes. According to IEN,
recently-obtained trucker manifests indicate some of the waste is
coming from Camp Pendleton military base.
** The Soboba reservation has a history of accepting hazardous
waste. In 1990, a corporation called Ranpac, Inc., brought 220
truckloads of soil to the reservation, contaminated with toxic
lead. The soil was reportedly dumped on land owned by tribal
chairperson Robert Salgado, with his consent. According to IEN,
Ranpac was subsequently fined $1.2 million in civil and criminal
penalties. More recently, Robert Salgado’s brother, Ernie
Salgado, is pursuing a waste recycling center on tribal land.
** For at least two years, Chambers Development, a large waste
hauler from Pittsburgh, Pa., has been trying to establish a
regional toxic waste landfill on land owned by the Los Coyotes
Band of Mission Indians, according to IEN. Chambers has promised
the Band $2 million per year, to be distributed as they see fit,
plus a scholarship fund, housing assistance, a cultural center,
and jobs.
** The Campo Indians have been the first to seek and gain federal
approval for a solid waste dump they are building on their land
in cooperation with Mid-American Waste Systems, a partner of WMX
Technologies, Inc. (formerly Waste Management, Inc.) of Oak
Brook, Illinois, according to IEN. We visited Campo in 1991 and
examined the site of the then-proposed dump. The tribe was
divided over the proposal at that time. The dump was intended to
provide economic development.
For its part, the Clinton administration is proposing to create
new loopholes for toxic wastes that are allegedly being
“recycled,” as are the wastes being dumped on Torres-Martinez
lands. On July 15, EPA officially proposed to exempt over 100
million pounds of toxic waste from the reporting requirements of
the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), if the wastes are going to be
recycled or if energy will be recovered from them (by, for
example, burning them in a cement kiln). EPA’s proposal would
make it more difficult for state and local officials, and
community members, to track waste shipments to and from their
area.
Paul Orum of the Working Group on Community Right to Know in
Washington, D.C., says, “The EPA claims to be interested in
pollution prevention, but this opens a loophole big enough to
drive a truck through. This loophole would gut the Pollution
Prevention Act of 1990, which Congress passed to promote
prevention.”
For further information on the waste wars in southern California,
contact: California Indians for Cultural and Environmental
Protection (CICEP), Star Route Mesa Grande, San Ysabel, CA
92070; phone and fax: (619) 782-3703. Or: The Indigenous
Environmental Network (IEN), P.O. Box 485, Bemidji, MN
56601-0485; phone: (218) 751-4967; fax: (218) 751-0561.
                
                
                
                
    
–Peter Montague
Descriptor terms: ca; michael hamilton; rose ann hamilton;
torres-martinez indians; thermal; cahuilla; anza; soboba; native
people; u.s.; us; valle vista; los coyotes; warner springs;
cabezon; coachella; campo; san ysabel; marina ortega; desert sun;
palm springs; water pullition; sewage sludge; landfilling;
composting; recycling; bia; epa; indigenous environmental
network; ien; bemidji; mn; mary belardo; carol browner; bruce
babbitt; interior department; janet reno; justice department;
chino corona farms; terra farms; kellogg supply; hck company;
geraldine ibanez; rcra; nepa; eis; ea; tom goldtooth; marina
ortega; candelaria land company; camp pendleton; army; military;
ranpac; robert salgado; ernie salgado; chambers development;
mid-american waste systems; wmx technologies; waste management;
wmi; clinton; tri; paul orum; working group on community right to
know; pollution prevention act of 1990;