Walker River Paiute Tribe
1022 Hospital Road « P.O. Box 220 + Schurz, Nevada 89427
‘Telephone: (775) 773-2306
Fax: (775) 773-2585
January 31,2019
Office of the Governor:
Honorable Steve Sisolak
101 North Cason St.
Carson City, NV 89701
‘Dear Governor Sisolak,
‘The Walker River Paiute ‘Tribe has been working with the U.S. Environmental Protection.
Agency (EPA), Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Land Management,
U.S Geological Survey (USGS) and the responsible party, BP (formerly British Petroleum,
operating as the Atlantic Richfield Company, ARC, in Nevada) for the past several decades to
address the profound environmental damage resulting from the Anaconda Mine Site in
Yerington, Nevada. Studies by USGS have found evidence of damage to our property, including
heavy metals in the Weber Reservoir and Walker River. In 2018, EPA conducted additional
studies on our Reservation and we eagerly await those results as we act to protect our Tribal
‘members from the risk created by releases from the site.
In 2003, NDEP and the State of Nevada made the very wise decision to move the site from
NDEP lead to EPA lead. During the Tribe’s involvement starting in 1982, there had been limited
actions at the site and no groundwater monitoring initiated by NDEP. With EPA lead starting in
2003, the responsible party, BP, was forced to install over 350 groundwater monitoring wells and
spend over $150 million on assessment of groundwater contamination alone. These steps were
ctitical in assessing releases through surface water and groundwater that impact or Tribal
members health and our natural resources.
By 2016, EPA was prepared to bring final actions, develop Records of Decision (RODs) for the
site to initiate actions leading to closure at the site. The site was to be listed on the National
Priorities List, NPL, to ensure that BP would be held responsible for the cost of the site and the
full weight of CERCLA authority available to enforce response actions at the site. This cleanup
project would not only resolve one of the true blights on our region’s health and economy, itwould be one of the largest constructions projects in Northern Nevada, likely taking more than
‘twenty years with follow up monitoring and maintenance at the expense of the foreign
corporation responsible for the mess.
However, last year the site went into deferral. A misguided process executed by your
predecessor at the influence of EPA Administrator at the time, Scott Pruitt, quickly and quietly
negotiated that the State take lead of the site. The process under which the State took lead is
subpar at best. Although we agree that Nevada has the knowledge base to address the basic site
reclamation, the agreement with BP that put the state as lead has many in the community
concerned regarding depth of process.
Since the state took lead, the responsible party, BP, has submitted less than mediocre technical
reports requiring significant revision and pushing back the state’s negotiated timeline for the
cleanup, provided an unsolicited subjective review of groundwater characterization challenging
the stakeholder agreed upon sitewide assessment, and has refused to meet EPA’s deadline for
Phase 2 assessment of the Operable Unit directly associated with documented impacts to Walker
River Tribe resources (known as OU7).
Our concem first and foremost is for the health and safety of our community members and
visitors. We do not consider the current climate of oversight and decision-making power to be
protective of these priorities and urge you to consider reversing the decision made by Governor
Sandoval and Scott Pruitt; to allow for the site to be listed on the NPL with federal financial
backing. Already, we have seen the cleanup effort cost EPA and taxpayers over thirteen million
dollars as BP refused to meet its financial obligations at the site. As documented by the recent
Audubon publication, the ability of EPA to collect these funds was hampered by the process to
defer lead of the project to the state. As lead, NDEP has now placed the state of Nevada in a
position to face the same responsible party, BP, without the support of the U.S. Department of
Justice to collect the bills or CERCLA Superfund to pay bills while reimbursement is sought.
EPA has already stated their willingness and ability to have NDEP take lead on design and
implementation aspects of the reclamation efforts at the site under NPL listing. Ultimately, NPL
listing gives the citizens of Nevada the protection and security of national financial support to
continue and finish cleanup to standards that meet the high quality of living Nevadans know and
expect throughout our state.
We believe the Deferral Agreement should be reconsidered, and the process by which it came
about should be fully investigated. In the end, we believe the Deferral Agreement should be
substantially amended and improved, or else terminated by the State, on grounds expressly
contemplated by the Agreement itself. See Deferral Agreement, Section VI (B).
We look forward to meeting with you to discuss this in further detail, It is a matter which raises
critically important issues for the Tribe, and for all Nevadans.
In the meantime, enclosed herein please find (A) a copy of the Deferral Agreement, and (B) an
additional overview prepared by our consultants.Sincerely,
mln Gouea
‘Amber Torres, Chairman
Walker River Paiute Tribe
wienclosures