EPA assails US Army Corps for slow action

Apparently exasperated by its slow action on the clean-up of Tanapag village, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has pressed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer in Honolulu to take more definitive steps in ensuring that the polychlorinated biphenyl contamination in the northern coastal village in Saipan will removed.

In a letter to Lt. Col. Wally Walters, district engineer in Honolulu, EPA manager for Pacific Insular Areas Norman Lovelace reminded the official that his office is the lead federal agency that must perform all the necessary remediations in consultation with the CNMI government and other federal agencies.

“There is a continued growing discontent with the pace and nature of the federal response to this overall situation by the community and the Commonwealth government,” said Mr. Lovelace.

With All Soul’s Day fast approaching, the residents will be going to the Lower Base cemetery, or Cemetery 2, despite earlier order by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to stay away from the area where there is still high level of PCB contamination.

“New burials continued and the upcoming All Soul’s Day in November 2000 makes it imperative that clean-up activities begin and be completed,” Mr. Lovelace said.

According to Mr. Lovelace, the U.S. Army Corps Honolulu District has an obligation to aggressively seek all funding necessary to complete the remediation at Tanapag and make sure that all funds are available, regardless of the time in the fiscal year when they are required.

Since the scheduled May 3 public meeting in Tanapag among village residents is fast approaching, the EPA official advised the U.S. Army Corps to provide a definitive update on its immediate remediation plans.

In a meeting held in Honolulu last February, the Army Corps and EPA failed to forge a memorandum of understanding after the idea was rejected by the Army Corps Honolulu office, which claimed that Tanapag was not in the National Priority List.

This led in the development of a Tanapag Action Plan as an alternative which would have been reviewed and revised by the Division of Environmental Quality and the Honolulu District Engineer. However, both parties could not agree on specific plans that should be jointly undertaken.

Given the opposing views of the Army Corps Honolulu District Engineer and DEQ, the U.S. EPA concluded that there is a waning interest in developing a joint plan, absent renewed interest and commitment to the Tanapag Action Plan concept discussed in February.

“Despite several opportunities for HED to participate in the interagency discussions and to initiate discussions and coordination, on its own behalf, HED has been noticeably quiet. EPA trusts that HED will assume a more aggressive role in the future,” Mr. Lovelace said.