Residents ask Attorney General to investigate cover-up By J.C. Huntington
Dateline: Phoenix Arizona, March 3, 2001
Posted to PoisonedWells Saturday, March 3, 2001

A group of residents concerned about the effect of Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill on the water supply have asked the Arizona Attorney General to investigate what they say is an illegal act committed by the University of Arizona and/or Turner Laboratories Inc. 

In a letter sent to Janet Napolitano, Arizona Attorney General, the group says that the UA and/or Turner Labs illegally concealed test results confirming the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill is leaking into the water supply.

The UA owns the toxic landfill and periodically monitors the groundwater beneath it to see if their landfill is leaking into the water supply.  Turner Labs is hired by the UA to analyze water samples collected by the UA from Page-Trowbridge. 

The results of the tests are used to determine if the landfill is leaking to groundwater. The groundwater beneath the Page-Trowbridge landfill is the sole source of water for several local communities from Oracle to northwest Tucson.

According to the letter, the UA and/or Turner Labs illegally concealed a test result confirming contaminants were present in groundwater from beneath the Page-Trowbridge landfill from ADEQ and conceived a story to cover the illegal act. 

Copies of the letter were sent to local, state and federal politicians and agencies.

The group, Pinal Citizens for Sustainable Communities, recently filed referendum petitions containing about 5,800 signatures opposing a rezoning decision by the Pinal county board of supervisors.  The supervisors had unanimously agreed that development of a retirement community on land immediately adjacent to the landfill would be good for the local economy and not endanger public health.  The referendum will allow voters to review the supervisor's decision.

Several hundred pages of exhibits, consisting of official documents from Turner Labs and the UA along with newspaper clippings quoting UA and Turner officials, accompany the letter. 

The documents appear to contradict what UA officials told the press regarding the test results. 

In November of last year ADEQ was informed that official documents indicated the UA had filed a false report.  In December, the evidence was given to ADEQ. ADEQ has taken no action.