AGO says feds mishandled PCB problem

A preliminary investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General revealed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 and the Army Corps of Engineers committed gross negligence, violated their own policies and federal laws in carrying out the cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination in Tanapag village.

Both agencies “endangered the health, safety and welfare of the people of the Commonwealth” as they failed to clean up Tanapag, a northern coastal village in Saipan, following the federal standards, the report said.

This was contained in a report submitted by Assistant Attorney General Murphy Peterson to Senate President Paul A. Manglona and House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial.

The report was a product of over six months of investigative work led by Mr. Peterson and his associates, environmental legal clerk Kate Konschnik and Gregg Kresge, environmental hazardous waste expert.

The investigation was prompted by a resolution passed by both chambers asking the House and Senate legal counsels to work with the AGO in investigating and quantifying the extent of the losses suffered by any and all branches of the CNMI government and its autonomous agencies as a result of PCB and dioxin contamination in Tanapag village.

Violations

Federal cleanup standard provides that excavated soil contaminated with PCB must be replaced with clean soil which contains less than 1 ppm. However, a report of the remedial action in Tanapag issued on Sept. 22, 1999 showed that many sites in the village were cleaned up below the 10 ppm level –– a clear violation of federal law. Prior to the excavation and remediation efforts, PCB concentrations in some locations of the village were in excess of 55,000 ppm.

U.S. EPA Region 9 failed to carry out a site-specific baseline risk assessment to help establish the acceptable exposure levels for remediation as mandated under federal law. Nevertheless, EPA has set the decontamination level in the village between 0.22 to 1.1 ppm.

The report noted inconsistencies in the statement of EPA Region 9 Program Manager Norman Lovelace as to which agency should take the lead in the cleanup. During a meeting with different local and federal officials on June 29, 2000 Mr. Lovelace said DEQ will be the lead agency but in an earlier communication with Lt. Col. Wally Z. Walters of the Army Corps, he said the ACOE will take the lead.

An EPA document outlining the agency’s cleanup policy called for the evacuation of the area if contamination are near homes and restriction of access to affected waters or land spill areas. The contamination excavated and remediated at that time was within close proximity to residential area, church and school.

Documents reviewed by the team showed that since 1992, the US. EPA and Army Corps were aware that the groundwater in Tanapag have PCB concentrations of up to 18 times (9 parts per billion) the federal drinking standard.

During the investigation, EPA or ACOE failed to provide a 1992 testing documentation on groundwater contamination.

“What is known is that no work plan for remediation has ever addressed the known issue of the contamination of the groundwater. The actions of EPA and ACOE are in violation of federal law,” the report said.

In the scheduled cleanup this month of Cemetery No. 2 and some parts of the village, Army Corps official Helene Takemoto, FUDS program manager, admitted during a conference call on July 28, 2000 that there was no plan to ensure that the health and safety of the residents will be addressed while excavation and remediation of the soils within the village are carried out.

Ms. Takemoto only said such concerns will be included in the Community Relations Plan, which will only be provided if it is “funded.” Until now, no such plan exists. Such actions of both EPA Region 9 and ACOE are in violation of EPA policy and federal law, the report said.

Future actions

Both the U.S. EPA and Army Corps have been very uncooperative in providing the documents to the AGO during the investigation, ignoring such requests most of the time, according to Mr. Peterson. The team reviewed documents covering a period of more than 12 years.

Mr. Peterson said the AGO’s investigation will continue since excavation and remediation will still conducted in the remaining PCB-contaminated areas, and that two consulting firms have been hired to help his office review all available information.

The legal consulting firm will prepare a report which shall offer at least three options on how the Commonwealth shall proceed with the cleanup and recover costs.

An environmental consultant will review and assess all reports, remediation plans and records including the methodology of the sampling, as well as inspect areas of PCB contamination and monitor wells or groundwater.