A look back at
history in the making
This Oracle Town Hall press release, reproduced
below, was widely circulated to the media and governmental agencies a year
and a half ago. Nobody ran it but the San Manuel Miner. Governmental
agencies involved quickly and thoroughly pooh-poohed it to the mass media,
even though the 408-page Parton Report was made up of the agencies' own
documentation and was submitted to them with the press release.
Months and months of meetings and
presentations and agency bashings and media skepticism later, Web Parton
and Cliff Russell, the researchers behind the Town Hall report, came into
their own credence-wise last month |
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with acknowledgment by Steve Holland, UA
Waste Management Director, that tests indicated that the radioactive toxic
waste dump may indeed be leaking into groundwater.
The information in this press release, printed
below, is as pertinent today as it was a year and a half ago. The
wake-up call was a long time in coming, but maybe now we can move forward
with what to do about the problem.
The Town Hall is petitioning the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency for superfund remediation. If you'd like to add
your name to the petition, please call Web Parton at (520) 896-9555 |
ORACLE TOWN HALL
Office of the Steering
Committee
P.O. Box 621 Oracle,
Arizona 85623
| Contacts: |
Web Parton, 520-896-9555;
Frank Pierson; 520-896-2955 |
|
Andrew Rush, 520-896-2446 |
Is
the drinking water of the northwest Tucson, Oro Valley, Tortolita, Catlina,
SaddleBrooke, Falcon Valley and Oracle threatened by developer draw-down
of an improperly sealed radioactive toxic chemical waste repository on
the north edge of their aquifer?
According
to a report being supplied governmental agencies this week, it is.
Carcinogenic chemicals and radioactivity have been detected in a plume
under Falcon Valley near the University of Arizona's decaying Page-Trowbridge
hazardous waste landfill at Oracle.
The 408-page
report by an ORacle research/writer team documents more than a quarter
century of uncontrolled radioactive toxic chemical waste dumping followed
by alleged cover-up and deception by state agencies to circumvent costly
exhumation or proper capping.
Highlights
of the Web Parton report:
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The 11 acre cap installed
two years ago over the landfill (following 48 years of subsidence and 10
years after dump closure was decreed) is made up of two parts sandy
soil scooped up at the site with one part substandard clay hauled in, and
no waterproof liners to prevent rainwater from flushing contamination further
into the water table.
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Monitoring test wells
10 years ago showed contaminant concentrations to 710 feet in the ground,
approximately three miles up-aquifer from the wells serving Oracle,. No
rate of toxic migration has been established.
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The original EPA-mandated
closure plan called for a landfill cover comprised of plastic liners and
100 percent impermeable clay. To cut costs, the University of Arizona
connived with the Arizona Department of Administration and the Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality to cap the collapsing landfill with
the soil mixture, according to its own documents. Exhuming the radioactive
toxic waste was deemed extremely dangerous and too expensive.
Economic, considerations took precedence of their public health and safety,
according to the report.
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The average dumping of
radioactive waste during the 1960's and the early 1970's was calculated
at 43,200 pounds (4,440 cubic feet) per year. The total accumulated
deposits of radioactive toxic chemical wastes have been reported by the
UA as 280 tons. Actual total tonnage may exceed 450 tons, documents
indicate.
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In the early 1960's, a
well was dug by the Air Force at the Titan Missile site 4,000 feet from
the dump. It was found to have 50 pica curies of radioactivity.
The well-head was subsequently encased in concrete and never used.
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The 38 years
of dumping before the site closure 10 years ago, after which rainwater
continued permeating the collapsing site, has resulting in radioactive/toxic
chemical contamination of both the soil beyond the site and the groundwater
itself, according to tests documented in the report. Migration of
the posionous plume depends on the increased rate of down-aquifer use between
Oracle and Tucson.
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Current plans for the
Falcon Valley area immediately surrounding the contaminated site include
6,000 dwelling units, three 18-hole golf courses and commercial units.
Water consumption at build-out is estimated at approximately 2,736 acre-feet
per year. The proposed drilling of additional wells for this development
will hasten the migration of the contaminant plume.
The
full report is available at the Oracle Town Hall, the Oracle Public Library,
the University of Arizona, and the involved governmental agencies.
-- Dean Prichard
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