By Paul Ahuja
Torres Martinez Reservation
Southern California
"Everywhere you go, the companies and government officials tell
you the same thing: 'Everything's fine, it's perfectly safe.'"
But Milton Campbell of California Indians for Cultural and
Environmental Preservation (CICEP) says it isn't fine.
Campbell told Workers World of his recent dealings with several
waste-disposal companies and with U.S. government officials from
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs.
Campbell is a member of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla
Indians. He is fighting alongside his 500-member nation to rid
their reservation of an illegal sludge dump.
The Cahuilla, joined by several other Native nations, the
American Indian Movement, Greenpeace, United Farm Workers and
others, recently blockaded the dump. Using wood, scrap metal and
their bodies to barricade the entrance, they denied access to
dozens of trucks carrying tons of toxic sludge to the
reservation.
SLUDGE SEEPS INTO WATER
George Auclair, a spokesperson for the Cahuilla, told WW: "We had
to build this blockade around the dump because it is killing us.
The sludge is seeping into the water table and affecting our
drinking water.
"The smell is terrible and disease-carrying flies are
everywhere."
The blockade began Oct. 17. It has lasted more than a week
despite searing desert heat, threats of arrest by local and
federal agents, and an attack on the barricade by what the
Cahuilla describe as "company goons."
These thugs threatened an armed attack on the blockade the night
of Oct. 21. But they backed down after members of AIM showed they
were capable of resisting in kind.
Bradley Angel of Greenpeace described the various toxins and
heavy metals in the sludge: "We know for sure there are cadmium,
arsenic, chromium and lead. We expect that on further analysis
materials equally or even more harmful to humans will be
detected."
Earlier in October a fire had burned in the sludge pit for more
than a week. Native people living downwind complained of
difficulty breathing, nausea and diarrhea. Children on the
reservation were the most seriously affected.
CORPORATE DOUBLE-DEALING
Pima Gro, Kellards and Chino-Corona are the three companies
dumping at the site, which is owned by Terra Farms. The sewage
and industrial waste come from Los Angeles and Orange Counties,
as well as the city of San Diego.
Terra Farms leased the dump site in 1990 from a bankrupt company
that had originally leased it from Geraldine Iba$ez. Iba$ez had
moved off the reservation before signing the contract.
The Cahuilla say the dump, regardless of any contract, is illegal
because it's on their land without tribal consent.
The question of tribal sovereignty dominated the discussion at
the blockade site. Marina Ortega of the Native tribal coalition
CICEP said: "The BIA dodges the question of environmental racism
by saying it's a question of sovereignty. But Geraldine Iba$ez is
only one person, not the whole tribe.
"The people here obviously don't want this dump on the
reservation. The people should have absolute say on what's going
on in their community."
"The government only sees us as sovereign on paper," said Mervyn
Tilden, a Native activist. "They twist this around and use it as
a cover when they don't want to get involved."
"The upper aquifer is already contaminated," declared Ortega.
"The aquifer is used for irrigation. The Coachella valley [where
the dump is located] is the bread basket of California.
"This dump affects everyone who eats food grown here."
Campbell of CICEP says: "Alfalfa and other grains, citrus, dates,
tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, lettuce and many other fruits
and vegetable are grown here. The pollution from this dump gets
into that food and gets shipped all across the U.S. and the
world."
NATIVE SOLIDARITY VS. BIA, EPA
The Dine' CARE--Citizens Against Ruining our Environment--
a Navajo group, also came to support the blockade.
"The big corporations want to use Native land as their dumping
ground. We've fought the BIA, the EPA. We've filed lawsuits and we
see that things like this blockade are the only effective ways to
fight and win," said Ann Frazier, a Dine' CARE spokesperson.
Frazier says Native solidarity with other groups is needed to
effectively fight the government. "We need to join together to
sing the same song against the EPA and the government."
The blockade of the illegal sludge dump continues. "The
solidarity of people locally and nationally who are standing with
the tribe has resulted in a serious defeat for the sludge
companies trespassing on our land," said Joe Loya, the tribal
clerk.
The struggle is not over. The dump remains. Even if closed, the
chemicals must be removed.
[The Torres Martinez Tribe can be contacted at the On-Site
Blockade cell phone (415) 699-3256 or faxed at (619) 399-5012.]
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