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TO DEAL WITH ENVIRONMENTAL WOES Action center eyed in Tanapag
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Posted on Mar 07 2000
The Division of Environmental Quality is tapping the Environmental Justice Plan grant to finance the establishment of a Tanapag Action Center which will be responsible for community organizing and public education campaign in the village amid the environmental problems surrounding the community.
Workshops will be held at the center to teach people skills in conflict resolution. The center will be equipped with a computer which the community can use in tapping other funding agencies, according to DEQ Director Ike Cabrera.
DEQ is applying for the $20,000 grant on behalf of the local people of Tanapag since there is no nonstock, nonprofit organization in the village that will directly seek funding.
Tanapag, a northern coastal village in Saipan. is beset with environmental problems such as the contamination of polychlorinated biphenyls and leaking fuel tanks left by the U.S. military after the war.
PCB contamination in the village was discovered when an unknown number of electrical capacitors were containing 100 percent PCB oil were left by the U.S. military in the 1960s. The electrical capacitors in the village were used as boundary markers, road blocks for driveways, windbreaks for barbecue sites and headstones.
PCBs are a group of manufactured organic chemicals that contain 209 individual chlorinated chemicals (known as congeners). They have been used widely as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors and other electrical equipment.
Manufacturing of PCB was stopped in the United States in 1977 because of evidences pointing to its harmful effects on the environment and health.
The Environmental Protection Agency will conduct its own testings in Tanapag to make sure that the village is safe from PCB contamination. Cleanup of the Lower Base Cemetery, where there is high concentration of PCB, has yet to be conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
