The report, entitled Overview of Technical Reports for Potential Contamination Resulting From the Page-Trowbridge Landfill, was commissioned by Robson Communities and produced by the engineering firm of Dames & Moore. 

       Robson Communities paid Dames & Moore $30,000 to produce the report.

       Robson Communities developed the SaddleBrooke retirement community and is currently seeking rezoning to enlarge SaddleBrooke as well as develop another 6,000 home retirement community on land adjacent to the Page-Trowbridge landfill. 

       The Dames & Moore report was published on January 11, 2000, two or more years after the Robson owned Lago del Oro Water Company had detected the presence of contaminants in the SaddleBrooke water supply. 

       The water for SaddleBrooke is pumped from the same aquifer that runs beneath the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste dump. 

       The report was also published more than two years after the Arizona Water Company had found the carcinogen dichloromethane in the Oracle water supply. 

       The water for Oracle is pumped from the same aquifer that runs beneath the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste dump. 

       The test results showing that these contaminants had already been detected were available through the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) at the time that the Dames & Moore report was published.

Robson Officials Cite Flawed Report

       Robson officials have frequently cited the Dames & Moore report to assure that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill does not pose a threat to public health and safety.

       In July of this year Karl Polen, senior vice president of Robson Communities, told the Northwest Explorer newspaper that the company is sticking by the Dames & Moore report stating that there is "little to no possibility that contaminants will reach ground water." 

     "But it's not a zero possibility, that's why we support testing and monitoring," Polen said.

       Polen made this statement in July of this year, three or more years after the carcinogen dichloromethane had been detected in the Oracle water supply and two or more years after ethylbenzene, xylenes and bromoform had been detected in the SaddleBrooke water supply.

       Polen's statement that Robson Communities "support testing and monitoring" was made at least one year after the Robson owned Lago del Oro Water Company applied to the ADEQ for monitoring waivers to allow Lago del Oro to bypass testing and monitoring of their water for 282 contaminants.

       In August of this year, a month after Polen cited the Dames & Moore report as proof that Page-Trowbridge was safe, Pinal County Commissioners met to consider a request by Robson Communities to re-zone a parcel of land adjacent to the Page-Trowbridge landfill thereby allowing construction of some 6000 dwellings next to the landfill. 

       At this August meeting, Pinal County Planning & Zoning personnel cited the Dames & Moore report as proof that Page-Trowbridge did not pose a threat to public health and safety. 

       At this same meeting, Pinal County Commissioners as well as the Pinal County Planning & Zoning staff claimed that they had never seen a copy of the extensively researched report on Page-Trowbridge produced by Web Parton and knew nothing of it. 

       The report is the result of several months of independent research by Web Parton, a resident of Oracle and contains over 400 pages of exhibits consisting of copies of official documents dealing with the Page-Trowbridge landfill.  Parton was asked by the Oracle Town Hall to research the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill.  The report documents Parton's research. 

       Copies of Parton's report were distributed to Pinal County officials a year ago. 

Supervisors Refuse To Answer

       To assure that the Pinal County Board of Supervisors had the information in the Parton report available to them when they consider the Robson rezoning proposal, a copy of Parton's report was mailed to Supervisors Kerr, Ruiz and Smith on August 29.

       Parton's report was sent via certified mail.  I also requested that each of the supervisors acknowledge receipt of Parton's report via phone, letter or email.

      On September 1, Supervisors Kerr and Ruiz acknowledged receipt of Parton's report via email.

       In their messages acknowledging receipt of Parton's report, both Kerr and Ruiz indicated that they had previously seen the Parton report.
       Supervisor Ruiz said that he had had a copy of the report "for quite a while."

       To clear up any confusion as to why the Pinal County Commissioners as well as the Pinal County Planning and Zoning staff were ignorant of the Parton Report while both Supervisor Kerr and Supervisor Ruiz had copies of it, I asked the supervisors a series of questions via letter.

       The questions were mailed to supervisors Kerr and Ruiz on Sept. 5.  Questions to supervisor Smith were mailed on Sept. 13.

       As of this writing, none of the Pinal County supervisors have answered the questions about the Parton Report.

       The questions about the Parton report that Supervisor Ruiz refuses to answer may be read here. 

       The questions about the Parton report that Supervisor Kerr refuses to answer may be read here. 

       The questions about the Parton report that Supervisor Smith  refuses to answer may be read here.