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Requested by a House committee, the 44-page plan spells out how U.S. EPA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Energy Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Indian Health Service will address the public health and environmental effects of uranium mining.

Nearly 4 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from more than 500 mines from 1944 to 1986. The mines were abandoned after the Cold War, and piles of tailings were left without warning signs or fencing.

"This plan serves as an important milestone in addressing uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation," said Wayne Nastri, administrator of EPA's Pacific Southwest region, in a statement after the plan's release last week. "After years of working independently on these issues, these five agencies have collaborated with the Navajo Nation to establish a clear strategy for cleaning up the legacy of uranium mining waste."

EPA will do most of the work. By 2012, the agency plans to complete a tiered assessment of the abandoned mines and clean up soil at New Mexico's Northeast Church Rock mine, the only mine assessed in accordance with EPA's Superfund program. The agency may use its Superfund authority to place additional mines on the National Priorities List.

The agency will also assess and remediate up to 500 structures on Navajo land.

Meanwhile, DOE's Legacy Management will continue treating contaminated groundwater at three inactive uranium milling sites remediated by DOE Environmental Management. The Nuclear Regulatory Agency will work with the Navajo Nation on any new uranium recovery proposals that could affect the nation's culture or resources.

BIA, coordinating with the Navajo Nation, will lead the cleanup of the Tuba City Dump in Arizona, which was used for more than 50 years as an open, uncontrolled landfill. Straddling land on the Navajo Nation and the adjacent Hopi Reservation, the dump has elevated levels of uranium, vanadium and other toxins that could contaminate nearby groundwater supplies.

The Indian Health Service, the primary health service for the Navajos since 1955, will continue its treatment of eligible Indians while submitting a grant proposal to the Department of Health and Human Services for a radiation exposure, screening and education program.

Committee spurred action

The proposal comes almost eight months after members of the Navajo Nation told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee of uranium mining's toll on their people.

Witnesses told lawmakers their children played in uranium tailings and family members died of lung cancer or leukemia, or became sick with stomach ailments, skin ailments, hearing problems and other illnesses with a proven or near-proven causal link to uranium and its radioactive decay products.

The committee sought responses from agencies and departments responsible for Indian lands (E&E Daily, Oct. 24, 2007).

In January, the committee's chairman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and ranking member, Tom Davis (R-Va.), asked Keith Takata, director of EPA's Region 9 Superfund Program, to develop a five-year plan with other agencies for cleaning up Navajo lands.

"We have a long way to go, but we've made some progress," Waxman said in an e-mail yesterday. "The federal government is finally taking responsibility for this modern American tragedy by beginning to fix the problem."

Funding questions

The five-agency plan offers few hints on how the agencies will pay for the cleanup.

There is no price tag for the plan, only cost estimates for specific initiatives based on existing agency funding levels.

David Taylor, senior attorney with the Navajo Department of Justice, said that while the plan was a good first step, the lack of new funding or even requests for additional funding raises questions about the administration's interest in addressing the issue.

"The problem is [that cleanup is] just not a monetary priority for this administration," Taylor said, theorizing that the agencies may have felt pressure to not make a commitment for additional funds.

Taylor said DOE is failing to recognize its responsibilities under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act to address three uranium disposal sites created under the act during the 1980s and '90s.

DOE is proposing continuing its monitoring and water treatment at the three sites, but Taylor said the law was later changed to require liners in the disposal cells to prevent the waste from contaminating local groundwater.

"You can't construct a landfill without a liner, yet you have these facilities sitting out there with mine tailings and no lining," he said.

Calls to DOE were not returned by deadline.

The House oversight panel has tentatively scheduled a follow-up hearing for September. While Taylor said he hopes lawmakers will push for changes to the plan and additional funding, he conceded that it may take the support of a new administration to produce a more comprehensive cleanup plan.

Click here to read the plan.

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