Panel gets uranium cleanup update
Navajo officials head to Washington

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A delegation from the Navajo Nation and officials from five federal agencies went before U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman’s committee Thursday in Washington to follow up on actions taken so far under a five-year plan to clean up Cold War uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation.

“Everybody’s asking the question regarding the current credit and financial crisis: Why is it the federal government can come up with $700 billion to bail out these entities on Wall Street, but when it comes to other issues on the domestic front, like education and the environment, they’re always saying that there’s no money?” Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of Navajo Environmental Protection Agency, said Wednesday from Washington.

“It’ll be interesting to be on the Hill and see what the tone is up there, because everybody is pretty stressed out.”

Though Navajo EPA has been able to get additional money from the tribe, it’s primarily for their existing grants. All the new work that has resulted from last October’s hearing before Waxman’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, in Etsitty’s opinion, is largely unfunded.

“We keep raising the issues in front of the committee that there needs to be more done to identify resources, and as far as the plans go on the agency side, they need us in order to be successful in completing their actions. If we don’t get additional resources, it’s going to take much longer for them to complete their tasks.”

The Navajo delegation includes Department of Justice attorney David Taylor, Navajo Superfund representatives, and Lillie Lane, point person for community involvement in dealing with the cleanup issues. Members of the Hopi Tribe also are expected to attend.

“We’ll be looking toward the future, we’ll hopefully be raising issues regarding the overall transition of what’s going to be happening here in D.C., with the transition to a new administration, changes to a new Congress, and what those type of changes might bring for the agencies,” Etsitty said.

“The current administration really has put a lot of restrictions on the federal agencies and their ability to make commitments all the way out to 2012, so when the Bush Administration leaves in January of next year and the next administration takes charge, I think there’s going to be opportunity for the agencies to basically rewrite their plans.”

He’s also hopeful a new Congress will be more willing to work with Navajo on what it has requested in the five-year plan, such as more resources for the agencies to do a faster and more comprehensive cleanup, and provision of health services.

Representatives of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, U.S. Reps. Tom Udall of New Mexico, Rick Renzi of Arizona and Jim Matheson of Utah also are expected to attend. Sam Simon of Udall’s office said, “From our perspective, we want to be able to hold the agencies’ feet to the fire and make sure they’re coming through on this kind of stuff. We’re going to keep having these meetings and making sure the plan is what needs to happen.”

Navajo Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur, who also is attending, said, “As I am aware, there has been very little action as far as the initial directives that Waxman and his committee gave to the federal agencies that were present in these initial hearings. We still have the same questions that we put out in the last meeting that was conducted in Gallup.”

Jeff Spitz, co-producer with Bennie Klain of “The Return of Navajo Boy,” hopes to take advantage of the timing by offering screenings of the documentary that triggered an investigation of uranium-contaminated houses on the Navajo Nation. One screening was scheduled Wednesday on Capitol Hill and another is planned for Thursday evening at Georgetown Law.

He said the idea is to reach out to the staffers involved in the five-year plan and in the Waxman hearings by taking the film to their office building.

“We are mainly trying to reach the people in charge of this cleanup business and do it in a high-profile venue right where they live. We want the EPA to come, and part of the reason is that after all that we’ve learned and all that we’ve been through, they have a five-year plan and they need to be held accountable to it. A plan’s only a plan,” Spitz said.