http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/50902.php Mail comments.
PROTEST THE HAZARDOUS WASTE DUMP ON A SACRED SITE ON
by s
Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006 at 7:59 PM
PLEASE JOIN US TO PROTEST THE HAZARDOUS WASTE DUMP ON A SACRED SITE ON > O'ODHAM LAND IN SONORA!
PLEASE JOIN US TO PROTEST THE HAZARDOUS WASTE DUMP ON A SACRED SITE ON
> O'ODHAM LAND IN SONORA!
>
> *NON-VIOLENT* RALLY & PROTEST AGAINST THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT'S PLANS TO
> DESECRATE INDIGENOUS LANDS AND A SACRED SITE.
>
> THIS Thurs, Oct 12th @ 12 noon
> Location: Mexican Consulate, 553 S. Stone (& 16th St.) Also at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix, same time, same day
>
> The Mexican government and a company called CEGIR have been quietly
> planning
> to put a hazardous waste dump in O'odham territory, close to the
> sacred site
> of Quitovac. Just a few miles southwest of the Sonora state border with
> Arizona, this project has been conducted with no involvement of the
> Indigenous O'odham communities in the decision-making processes.
>
> The site would potentially treat and separate up to 45,000 tons of
> hazardous
> waste materials annually, including asbestos, organochlorides, and
> waste
> sludge from industries.
>
> The proposed site would:
> * Expose children and nearby communities to dangerous toxins
> released in
> the land, air, and water;
> * Potentially contaminate the underground well water the communities
> depend on;
> * Desecrate the sacred ceremonial grounds of Quitovac, devastating
> the
> culture, traditions, sacred sites and spiritual well-being of the
> O'odham
> Indigenous peoples in both Mexico and the U.S.;
> * Potentially repel vacationers who frequent nearby Puerto Peñasco,
> and
> therefore threaten the income of Sonoran residents dependent on tourist
> dollars;
> * Destroy the biodiversity of a nearby natural lagoon.
>
> PLEASE JOIN US - DON'T LET THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT TURN TRADITIONAL
> O'ODHAM
> SACRED SITES AND SONORA COMMUNITIES INTO A DUMPING GROUND FOR HAZARDOUS
> WASTE!
>
> For more information:
> http://www.greenaction.org/indigenouslands/tohonooodham/index.shtml
>
> O'odham Rights Cultural and Environmental Justice Coalition Coalition
> and
> Greenaction
> Contact: Ofelia Rivas (520) 471-3398 or uyarivas@hotmail.com
> =============================================
>
> Hello all --
>
> There is a recently proposed toxic waste dump for a place called
> Quitovac in Sonora, approximately 30 or so kilometers South of
> Sonoyta. Quitovac is a small and poor Tohono O'Odham village that
> resides next to an amazing oasis of life. Amazingly a bountiful
> spring flows out into a small lake there. It is an amazing sight in
> the very dry western Sonoran desert, near the edge of the Gran
> Desierto! It is similar to Quitobaquito springs in Organ Pipe
> monument. The Sonoran desert around Quitovac is gorgeous and in good
> shape. There are numerous pygmy-owls and other nesting raptors among
> much other wildlife. Washes in the area have some of the biggest
> Ironwoods I've ever seen.
>
> This dump is opposed by the people of Quitovac... for obvious reasons.
> This is another example of environmental racism.... putting
> destructive, harmful projects where the people (and environment) often
> don't have clout or the ability to resist effectively.
>
> Sky
>
> =============================================
> Tucson Citizen
> Sonora toxic landfill project raises fear
> CLAUDINE LoMONACO
> Published: 07.19.2006
> Mexico has approved construction of a major toxic landfill 25 miles
> south of the Tohono O'odham Nation without properly informing the
> United States, and local communities are demanding the project be
> stopped over environmental concerns.
> The project would bring up to 45,000 tons of industrial waste from
> northwest Mexico to the Sonoran desert annually, said Mexico's office
> of environment and natural resources.
> The site, La Choya Hazardous Waste Facility, would be near Quitovac,
> Son., one of the most sacred sites of the Tohono O'odham, and two
> miles from the Mexican highway used by U.S. tourists on their way to
> Puerto Peñasco, Son.
> Residents of Quitovac and other Mexican communities said they learned
> about La Choya recently and that the Mexican government failed to
> provide an opportunity for public review.
> Alfonso Flores, of the environmental secretary's department of
> hazardous waste, said the agency complied with Mexican law.
> Some disagree.
> "They went out of their way to keep this secret," said Manuel Gonzalez
> Montesinos, a social science professor at the University of Sonora in
> Caborca who helped form a group opposing the project.
> On the U.S. side, the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Pima Association of
> Governments, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the
> U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said they weren't informed in a
> timely manner.
> "Anything that will impact the land or air quality or groundwater
> around the border has to be a concern to all of us. We're in proximity
> to it," said Joan Lionetti, executive director of Tucson Clean and
> Beautiful, a nonprofit group that promotes a healthy environment.
> According to a 1999 agreement between Mexico and the United States,
> the countries will inform each other within 30 days if either proposes
> a toxic waste project within 100 kilometers of the border.
> The secretary informed the EPA about the site on Sept. 28, said Dave
> Jones of the EPA's San Francisco office.
> But by that time, the permitting process was "well under way," Jones
> said, and there was little room for the cross-border input the
> agreement was meant to facilitate.
> The secretary had already granted one of three necessary project
> permits before the EPA was contacted, and granted the two other
> permits by the end of the year, records show.
> Cesar Augusto Sandoval, from CEGIR, the Mexican company building the
> project, said the company talked to the Mexican government about the
> site for at least a year before the permits were granted.
> Word didn't get out about the project among local communities until
> about February, residents said.
> Opposition grew quickly.
> Gonzalez, of the Caborca Citizens Committee, said the Mexican
> government failed to comply with federal laws that require public
> hearings before permits for waste sites can be granted.
> Flores said the agency complied with the law by buying an ad in a
> Quitovac newspaper April 10, 2005, and by posting a notice on its Web
> site.
> "The people in Quitovac don't even have (the) Internet," Gonzalez
> said. "How is that supposed to help them?"
> Tohono O'odham leaders north of the border found out in March and
> quickly passed a resolution opposing the project.
> "There hasn't been any consideration to the archaeological, historical
> or cultural impact to the area that are of concern to the O'odham,"
> said Ned Norris Jr., former vice-chairman of the Nation.
> Stephen Owens, Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental
> Quality, wrote the secretary a letter, stating that the notification
> agreement between the two countries should be "re-evaluated in light
> of the La Choya's experience."
> On May 30, the Sonoyta, Son., city government denied the company a
> land-use permit for the 246-acre site.
> CEGIR said construction is set to begin in September.
> "They don't have the authority to stop this," Sandoval said of the
> local government.
> Scientists at the University of Arizona's newly formed Binational
> Center for Environmental Sciences and Toxicology analyzed the
> project's design to help concerned parties understand potential
> environmental impacts, and found areas of concern, said the center's
> co-director, Jim Field.
> The design had no plan for how to handle liquid material or control
> dust, a primary conveyor of toxic material, Field said.
> Nor does it make provisions for separating incompatible materials, he
> said.
> Despite his questions about the proposed site, Field acknowledged that
> Mexico needs a site where hazardous material can be disposed of and
> regulated. The only other site such as the La Choya facility is in the
> state of Nuevo León.
> Activists on the Mexican side of the border have little faith in the
> project's safety.
> "The government hasn't been up front with us from the start," said
> Rosa Maria O'Leary, a Mexican chemist and activist.
> She played an instrumental roll in forcing the closure of a similar
> toxic waste site in Hermosillo, Son., in 1998.
> "Why should we trust them now?" she asked.
> A violation of the binational agreement carries no U.S. sanction,
> Jones said.
> The EPA has learned, he said, "that it is better to err on the side of
> public process. People will question even a good facility if you try
> to sneak it through.
> "A little bit of consultation up front is a good investment."
> The agency is reviewing Mexican environmental safety reports to assess
> potential impact on the United States, Jones said.