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U.S. EPA SETTLES HAZARDOUS WASTE VIOLATION AT BIA'S DILCON SCHOOL

Release Date: 4/19/1999
Contact Information: Paula Bruin, U.S. EPA (415) 744-1587

     (SAN FRANCISCO) --The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fort Defiance Agency (BIA) today announced that they reached an agreement in which BIA will pay a cash penalty of $5,000 and will fund an environmental compliance project to settle an EPA enforcement action for hazardous waste violations. The project will cost the BIA about $25,000.

       "We are very pleased that BIA agreed to settle this violation with a project that will directly benefit the Navajo Nation," said EPA Waste Division Director Julie Anderson

        Under the environmental compliance project, a teacher will be hired to teach environmental compliance issues to grades three through nine at nine schools in the Fort Defiance Agency.  BIA will consult with Derrith Watchman-Moore, Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, (NNEPA) in preparing the curriculum.  In addition, the teacher will conduct several community outreach meetings during the school year.

         "This is a unique opportunity for a federal agency found in violation of environmental laws to accept responsibility for their actions by promoting awareness and compliance with these laws to our children and local communities," said Watchman-Moore.

        The original administrative complaint against the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Dilcon Boarding School, on the Navajo Nation north of Winslow, Ariz., alleged the BIA violated the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which governs the storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous waste. The alleged violations involved the improper management of hazardous waste. The complaint asked for a penalty of $27,500.

       The initial investigation was conducted by the Navajo Division of Public Safety and the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency.  U.S. EPA's involvement in the case began in September, 1997, in response to a request for enforcement assistance from the Navajo Nation EPA, which had evidence of illegal disposal of hazardous materials. The original complaint alleged that the BIA violated RCRA by failing to ensure their hazardous waste was transported to a proper facility.