11/15/2013 Gallup Independent: Residents oppose mine waste staging area By Kathy Helms Dine Bureau: SAN MATEO – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials faced stiff opposition Tuesday evening when they met informally with a group of San Mateo residents to let them know they planned to truck in radioactive materials from Milan and Bluewater and stockpile them temporarily before relocating them to a licensed disposal facility. Warren Zehner, lead scientist on legacy uranium mine-waste issues for EPA Region 6, said the agency plans to create a staging area on property owned by Arsenio Salazar, who leased the same land to EPA during a 2011 cleanup of San Mateo residences. Zehner explained that EPA plans to clean up 19 residences in the five subdivisions near the Homestake Superfund Site in Milan, and 26 properties in Bluewater. Although EPA had a staging area set up at the Mormon Farms property in Milan, in September, “We got caught by the Rio San Jose flood,” he said. “It was in the floodplain.” Out of options EPA looked at eight other places in the Milan area but they all had major safety issues, so EPA contacted Salazar about using his land again, Zehner said. “He agreed to work with us and so were kind of coming to tell you that were absolutely out of options, so were going to start using that again.” Zehner said his partner, Jon Rinehart, had made calls to people they had worked with in the past who still had working phone numbers, and none had any major concerns. “But I wanted to come up here face-to-face. If you have concerns Im here to answer your questions,” he told a crowd of about 30 people seated around a large pool table at the fire station. How much? Nancy Brooks wanted to know how much material EPA plans to stockpile. “Our best estimate is about 2,000 yards of mine-related residential contamination, and it will be here for approximately six months. Well be managing it the whole time and once we have everything consolidated, it will be shipped out to a licensed facility either in Clive, Utah, or in Grandview, Idaho,” Zehner said. The temporary cell is designed at 150 feet by 150 feet, and will be about 4-1/2 feet high, he said. He said the radioactive material will be located inside a bermed area and will be covered with a spray-on polymer. “Its stuff called Gorilla Snot. What it does is it coats it so snow doesnt get into it. It doesnt blow.” The cell will be lined and air monitors will be stationed around the site. Trucks hauling the material will be limited to Highway 605. No guarantees “Were tired of meeting ancestors. Were tired of radiation,” David Salazar said. “Im closest to it. … Would you run a test at my house before you start? And then run one after youre there to see if it made a difference over at my house?” He said he lives within 400 yards of the proposed site. Saloman “Sonny” Marquez wanted a written guarantee from EPA that San Mateo residences would not be contaminated. “Would you be glad to put it in writing and provide a copy to every member thats here that signed the paper (sign-in sheet), saying that you will be responsible ... in the event that it would have some escaped radiation or contamination?” Marquez asked. Zehner told him that if anything got away, he would clean it up, but Marquez prodded for a more precise answer. “Thats not what I asked. I asked if you could put that in writing and provide a copy to each one of the members here,” he said. “Honestly, I dont know if I could do that. I would have to talk to my bosses and my programmatic people on whether we can put anything like that in writing, because that would be an EPA policy decision,” Zehner said. Kevin Colburn, a local landowner, told Zehner, “The town has already went through a cleanup once. I dont think anyone wants to go through another one if something did leak. And there are so many variables. It is in a floodplain, according to my plat map, so the polymer is not going to hold up to a flood or you wouldnt be worried about the floodplain you were in previously.” Zehner said that according to a FEMA map he consulted, San Mateo is not in a floodplain. Colburn countered, “When I got a bid to do construction out here, they told me I would have to have flood insurance because its in a floodplain.” Several residents, including Colburn, questioned whether EPA had indeed explored all options. “Ive got to think there are more than nine places out there that you can look at. This is close to a lot of residences that you guys just spent a lot of money cleaning up,” he said. Other alternatives? Brooks wanted to know why the material couldnt be taken to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad. “The reason it cant go to WIPP is because its not a Department of Defense or Department of Energy high-level (waste),” Zehner began explaining, but Brooks interrupted. “Oh, give me a break!” she said, adding that WIPP was supposed to be a pilot project, “yet it seems to be a permanent institution, so why cant we use it?” Zehner said because they would not let him take the waste there. “Well maybe we dont want it here either,” Brooks said. Others members of the audience agreed. “Thats right!” they said. Ed Craig put Zehner on the spot. “So this is a done deal then. Youre just telling us that this is happening.” One man in the back of the room stood up. “One question before I leave, because its of no use for me to be here. Are you going to bring that stuff whether we say yes or no?” When Zehner did not respond, he said, “I guess you answered my question. Ive got better things to do.” After further questioning about whether he was bringing the radioactive materials to San Mateo, Zehner said, “Ive got to talk to my bosses. If you had asked me three hours ago, then I would have said yes, based on the telephone conversations that we had had and talking to the people that we talked to.” Colburn said Zehners boss might want some statistics and suggested they put the matter to a vote. Rey Romero asked what Zehner was going to tell his boss. “Youre going to have to send some report back to your boss of this meeting right now. Whats it going to sound like?” “Ill tell him some people dont care; some people are against,” Zehner said. Romero told him he needed to choose better wording. “Not some. ... I mean, right here in this room, it looks like all but one doesnt want it.” Arsenio Salazar, who is leasing the land, responded. “Im not saying that I want it – Im just saying that in other words, youre telling me what I can do with my land.” After the meeting, Zehner said, “Theres no place thats going to make everybody happy. But if Ive got no place to stockpile it, then I cant do any cleanup. And my bosses probably aint going to like that, but those are the facts.”
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 22:42:20 +0000
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