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U.S.
EPA grant funds Yurok Tribe abandoned
underground storage tank assessment
Release date:
Contact Information:
Wendy Chavez, 415/947-4248, chavez.wendy@epa.gov
Investigation
part of overall $4 million EPA initiative to clean up leaking
underground tanks
San Francisco
– As part of a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, the Yurok Tribe completed an inventory of 15 underground storage
tank sites on its reservation in Klamath,
The tribe discovered an
abandoned tank buried in the front yard of a residence, as well as two
other sites that require further investigation -- all potential
candidates for federal cleanup funding. The EPA will work with the Yurok
Tribe this spring to further investigate the abandoned tanks and clean
up any contamination.
Underground storage tanks are a concern on Yurok land because they can
potentially affect the nearby
The tribe also faces increasing problems with illegal dumping, vehicle
abandonment, unregulated uses of the land, and overall degradation from
adjacent non-tribal land practices.
The EPA’s work with the
Yurok Tribe is part of the national Indian Country leaking underground
storage tank initiative, which aims to investigate, clean up and close
abandoned leaking tanks on tribal lands. To date, the EPA has worked
with seven tribes to address 29 sites in the Pacific Southwest. Since
2005, the EPA has closed 15 of those sites and spent over $4 million.
“Leaking underground storage tanks can contaminate precious land and
water that tribal communities depend on,” said Nancy Lindsay, the
EPA’s Waste Management Division director for the Pacific Southwest
region. “The EPA is providing technical, and in many cases, financial
assistance to help tribes address the threat these leaking tanks pose to
their health and vital resources.”
In addition to the Yurok Tribe, the EPA has worked with the San Carlos
Apache Tribe, the Hopi Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the Gila
River Indian Community, the Navajo Nation and the Tohono O’Odham
Nation to address abandoned leaking underground storage tank sites.
The EPA will continue to
work with tribes to investigate and clean up sites that show fuel
contamination from underground storage tanks at levels threatening human
health and the environment.
For more information on the EPA's underground storage tank initiative in
Indian Country, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/ust/leaking-tanks-indian/.
For information on the
EPA’s other work in the
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Source: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/537f212d0f97d68985257