Daniel Salzler No. 1214
EnviroInsight.org Four Items August 11, 2023
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- E.P.A Announces Final Cleanup Plan for Drinking Water Aquifer on Tohono O’odham Nation. Cleanup will pave the way to beneficial groundwater use, ensuring future drinking water security August 3, 2023 EPA
TUCSON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized its plan for the cleanup of the Cyprus Tohono Mine Site Basin Fill Aquifer under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the Superfund law. The newly signed Record of Decision outlines a cleanup plan which will use reverse osmosis treatment for groundwater contaminated with perchlorate, uranium, and sulfate, and will restore groundwater as a drinking water resource.
The Cyprus Tohono Mine Site is located on the Tohono O’odham Nation near the Village of North Komelik, about 30 miles south of Casa Grande, Arizona. Mine waste which caused the groundwater contamination was removed in 2008, but an approximate 4-mile-long plume of groundwater polluted by perchlorate, sulfate, and uranium remains in what is known as the Basin Fill Aquifer. This aquifer was formerly a drinking water source, but alternative drinking water is currently being supplied to nearby residents due to its contamination.
“Ensuring access to clean and safe drinking water is one of EPA’s most important missions,” said EPA Director of Region 9 Superfund and Emergency Management Division Michael Montgomery.“Today’s announcement is an essential step in reducing the burden on communities in the region, including the Tohono O’odham Nation.”
The selected cleanup plan will pump out and treat contaminated groundwater with a technology called reverse osmosis, a water treatment process that removes contaminants from water using pressure to force water through a semipermeable membrane where the contaminants are filtered out. Treated water will then be reinjected back into the aquifer or made available for other beneficial uses. Additionally, wells will be installed to monitor the site contamination to ensure it is cleaned up as intended.
While the cleanup plan selected cleans up the site in the shortest timeframe, EPA estimates it will take about 30 years to complete, with an additional 20 years of monitoring. This site is being cleaned up under what’s known as the Superfund Alternative Approach program.
The Cyprus Tohono Mine site’s contamination originally stems from copper sulfide and oxide ore mining operations in the 1880s. During the 1950s and 60s, the site included a small open pit copper oxide mine, which eventually was enlarged to remove 350,000 tons of ore. From 1975-1997, large-scale copper mining produced about 25 million tons of ore. Cyprus Tohono Corporation began operating the property in 1987. Since 2009, no active mining has occurred at the site.
Contact Information
Joshua Alexander (alexander.joshua@epa.gov)
(415) 214-5940
Learn more by visiting EPA’s Cyprus Tohono Mine Site webpage.
2. Navajo Nation Water Attorney Sees Seeds Of Optimism In SCOTUS Defeat.
BY: ALICE FORDHAM, KUNM– AUGUST 4, 2023..Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation in a landmark water rights case.
The Nation had called on the federal government under its treaty obligations to the tribe to assess Navajo water needs and make a plan to fulfill them if necessary, but the court’s decision was that the government had no obligation to do that.
It was a blow to a place where nearly a third of people don’t have reliable access to clean water.
But as the Navajo Nation Council celebrated 100 years of governance earlier this month, President Buu Nygren raised the Supreme Court ruling in his opening speech.
“Many feel this 5-4 ruling was a loss for us, but it wasn’t,” he said.
That is because, according to President Nygren: “Both the majority and dissenting opinions noted correctly that the Navajo Nation has a claim to the water rights in the mainstream Colorado River.”
And the majority opinion notes that the Navajo, “may be able to assert the interests they claim in water rights litigation, including by seeking to intervene in cases that affect their claimed interests.”
The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, included this note:
“After today, it is hard to see how this Court (or any court) could ever again fairly deny a request from the Navajo to intervene in litigation over the Colorado River or other water sources to which they might have a claim.”
Michelle Brown-Yazzie is the Assistant Attorney General for the Navajo Nation Department of Justice Water Rights Unit. She sat down with KUNM to expand on what the ruling means for the future of the fight for water rights on Navajo.
“I grew up with my grandmother, my grandfather, my parents, all of my aunts and uncles being advocates for our community,” she said. “And that’s something that we all have to do, in order to ensure that our children, our children’s children, have a future as Navajos. And so water is life. And water is so important to ensure our future and to continue to thrive, our nation to thrive. And so, that’s why I do what I do.”
Brown-Yazzie said that contained in the court’s majority opinion were the seeds of optimism for her work.
“Well, the court did recognize that the US government does hold water in trust for the Navajo Nation,” she said. “And the majority opinion stated that Congress and the President have the authority to enact laws to assist the nation in pursuing its water needs.
“So to us, what this means is that the Nation can explore the pursuit of legislation, and it is our intent to urge Congress and the administration to make good on their treaty obligations with the Navajo Nation.”
She said that the minority opinion, in which Justice Gorsuch stated that a future request from the Navajo Nation to intervene on cases related to water rights in the Colorado river was likely to succeed, was important.
“Because our rights in the Colorado River have never been adjudicated, our water rights have not been quantified. And we know that we do have water rights in the Colorado River,” she said.
“Back when there was the Colorado River Compact, that was established in 1922, tribes were not invited to be a part of that decision-making,” she said. “And then you also have Arizona v. California, the big case over the Colorado River for the upper basin states and the lower basin states, tribes were not really included. In fact, the Navajo Nation had attempted to intervene, and was denied. ”
That case was settled in 1963. But Brown-Yazzie said it is possible the Nation will try again.
“We are weighing our options,” she said. “This is a very important time for the Navajo Nation to make these big decisions.”
For the moment, her focus is a lawsuit in Arizona over rights to a tributary of the Colorado, the Little Colorado River. Although the case has dragged on for decades, Brown-Yazzie said a first phase of the trial began in April this year.
“I do not think that the Supreme Court affects our Little Colorado River adjudication in any negative way,” she said. “I think that what the Supreme Court opinion does is just show that there’s more litigation ahead of us unless we can come to some sort of an agreement.”
And she thinks it would be better to come to a settlement, as the Navajo Nation did over use of the San Juan river about 20 years ago. That settlement ultimately led not just to legal rights to water, but to the building of infrastructure to get water to people on the reservation.
“In the past couple of years, we’re starting to see the infrastructure to deliver water to Navajo communities where there hadn’t been water delivered before,” said Brown-Yazzie. “We’re starting to see it come to fruition. And it really is changing communities, and it’s changing the lives of Navajo people.” Source: https://sourcenm.com/2023/08/04/navajo-nation-water-attorney-sees-seeds-of-optimism-in-scotus-defeat/
3. ‘Sentinel Of Southwest’: Saguaro Cacti Are Collapsing, Dying In Arizona Heat. Source: Saman ShafiqUSA TODAY
Arizona’s saguaro cacti, a symbol of the U.S. West, are leaning, losing arms and in some cases falling over as record-breaking extreme heat consumes the state, plant researchers say.
Summer monsoon rains the cacti rely on have yet to come, testing the desert plants’ ability to survive in the wild as well as in cities after temperatures soared above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix, Tania Hernandez, a succulents cactus scientist at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, told Reuters. Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, which covers an area of 140 acres, has over two-thirds of all cactus species, including saguaros which can grow to over 40 feet tall.
“These plants are adapted to this heat, but at some point, the heat needs to cool down and the water needs to come,” said Hernandez.
Plant physiologists at the Phoenix garden are studying how much heat cacti can take. Until recently, it was assumed that the plants could adapt to high temperatures and sustain themselves in a drought. However, Arizona’s heat wave is testing those assumptions.
“What’s happening is that the really large old, majestic plants are the ones that are being impacted the most by intense heat waves and droughts,” Kevin Hultine, Director of Research at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, told USA TODAY.
“A lot of these are aged plants, probably between 40 and 80 years old, are just collapsing because of the combination of drought and heat.”
Hultine explained that saguaros are succulent plants and take up a lot of water, which makes their tissues turgid, allowing them to stand tall and firm. When they don’t get enough water and are exposed to heat and high temperatures, the water-filled molecules in the saguaro’s skin start to drain. As a result, the plant loses structure and begins to shrivel.
“The largest ones in particular will just collapse on themselves,” said Hultine. “The older ones are at more risk of wilting and dying. And part of that is that they just have so much mass to support that they’re the ones that are most susceptible to lose when they don’t get enough water.”
Besides the record-breaking heat, wildfires in Arizona have also posed a major threat to these majestic plants.
“These are plants that are not at all adapted to fire. So we see a lot of mortality in response to fire,” said Hultine.
And fires have been happening more frequently, thanks to hotter temperatures and invasive grasses, Hultine said. The grasses are mostly coming from Africa, he continued and were likely introduced by humans for cattle grazing.
More:All the records Arizona’s heat has broken this month; this week’s forecast
“Sentinel of the Southwest” cacti need to cool down at night or through rain and mist. Long periods of high temperature can weaken and eventually kill saguaros by damaging them internally.
According to the National Park Service, the average life span of a saguaro is 150–175 years, though some plants may live more than 200 years. Hultine says it is “very rare” for the plants to live to 200 and that 150 years “is sort of the typical maximum age”.
Caring for saguaros
If you have a saguaro in your yard, the Desert Botanical Garden recommends giving them supplemental water during periods of drought to ensure that they survive the hot summers.
“The best way to water your saguaro is to make a tree well around the base of the plant and run a hose with a trickle of water for 4-6 hours. This will allow the water to reach deep into the soil (2-3 feet) where the bulk of the roots are,” the garden’s experts recommend. Doing this process once a month during peak summer will be enough to help the plant stay hydrated until it rains, the center says.
However, it warns against overwatering because if water is left sitting around the base of the cactus, it can cause it to fall down.
Heat in the Southwest
July was recorded as Arizona’s hottest month ever, with temperatures over 110 degrees every day of the month, except Monday, the last day of the month. While things appear to be cooling down with lower temperatures on the horizon, it does not mean an immediate end to summer is in sight. The National Weather Service continues to issue excessive heat warnings in the area, advising people to stay indoors and avoid the outdoors as much as possible. Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/26/saguaro-cactus-dying-arizona-heat-reuters/70470713007/
4. What Field Is A MacGuffin Related To?
Golf
Cinema
Crime Fighting
Breakfast Sandwich
Copyright: EnviroInsight.org 2023
An object or device in a movie (Cinama) or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot. Source: https://www.wordgenius.com/question/what-field-is-a-mac-guffin-related-to/ZMAtOLRJRLtkeEAn
