PCB cleanup at Tanapag to resume Dec. 2000 • DEQ says Lower Base Cemetery still off-limits

Cleanup of the Lower Base Cemetery contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will resume in December 2000, according to Ike Cabrera, director of the Division of Environmental Quality.

In the meantime, the Lower Base Cemetery will remain off-limits to residents to prevent potential hazards pose by the PCB contamination in the area. “We just have to continue explaining to the people why we have to close the cemetery because of the risk the chemical poses on their health,” said Cabrera.

Last Tuesday, DEQ, Helene Takemoto, manager of the Formerly Used Defense Sites program of the U.S. Department of Defense; Lt. Com. Wally Walters of the U.S. Army Corps, Honolulu; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discussed with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio the PCB problem.

Despite warnings, Tanapag residents have insisted on burying their dead at the Lower Base Cemetery, making it difficult for DEQ to stop members of the community from entering the place.

The governor has expressed concern on the continued use of the cemetery on the people’s health since the cleanup will take place about a year from now. At least three burials already took place since the governor ordered the closure of the cemetery.

Amid concern on the people’s health, DEQ is now convincing the people in the village to use a backhoe to avoid touching the soil when digging the grave for their relatives. Earlier site investigation showed that the cemetery still has high concentration of PCB by as much as 25,000 parts per million.

During the meeting with the governor, the U.S. Army Corps gave a go signal to residents to bury their dead yesterday since the burial site has a PCB contamination of less than 10 parts of a million.

But DEQ would not take the Army Corps’ words without any proof. Cabrera has demanded from the Army Corps a report by Monday to back up its claims.

“If it’s greater than 10 parts per million, I will hold them responsible for it,” he said.

Tanapag residents have condemned the U.S. Army Corps for their failure to immediately carry out a cleanup of the village, as they blamed the hazardous chemicals left by the American troops in the 1960s as the cause of the unusual diseases that have plagued the community as well as the destruction of the environment.