Takeaways from AP’s report on how Duck Valley Indian Reservation’s water and soil is contaminated

OWYHEE, Nev. — The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation have long struggled with pollutants in their land and water.

For decades, tribes suspected that widespread illnesses and cancer deaths were linked to two buildings owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Fuel, herbicides and other chemicals spilled onto the dirt floors of the now-closed or demolished buildings.

Earlier this year, the BIA discovered a decades-old document with a passing mention of Agent Orange, suggesting the government may have been more involved in the contamination of the land than previously known, this time around irrigation canals. The community is still waiting for answers.

Owyhee is the only town on the reservation where snow-capped mountains loom over a valley of scattered homes and ranches, nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) from stoplights. The valley, surrounded by deep canyons in Nevada and flat plains in Idaho, is home to the “Sho-Pais,” whose ancestors were federally incarcerated there.

For generations, the heritage and livelihood of the residents was centered on year-round livestock raising. Many of the approximately 1,800 residents still use the same medicinal plans and practice the same ceremonies as their relatives buried among them.

Representatives from the BIA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited the reservation as recently as Aug. 7 to discuss the contamination and review the report that cited Agent Orange. Action cannot come soon enough for tribal members who say previous federal cleanup efforts lacked urgency and direction.

“People are dying. And I don’t know what they’re waiting for,” said tribal chairman Brian Mason.

Historically, most of the environmental hazards in Owyhee have been attributed to two BIA buildings, which have since been closed or demolished.

In 1985, the now-abandoned irrigation store leaked about 8,000 gallons of heating oil from a pipeline next to a two-lane highway that serves as the area’s main thoroughfare. Samples taken from the well, soil and floor drains around the building revealed a mix of the dangerous chemicals stored inside, including waste oil, arsenic, copper, lead and cadmium, along with the two herbicides that make up Agent Orange.

Racheal Thacker, a pesticide and waste technician with the tribes, said residents at the time were likely unaware of the dangers of handling the chemicals stored there. At the time, she said, BIA workers did not have the expertise or resources to identify contaminants in the soil.

In 1995, the EPA ordered the BIA to stop dumping gasoline, batteries and other liquids on the dirt floor of the maintenance building, saying the practice was improper, threatened groundwater supplies and could endanger the health of tribal members. The disposal practice had long-lasting consequences. The building has since been demolished and is fenced off.

In its statement to the AP, the BIA said it has conducted extensive studies of the reservation’s soil and groundwater since 1999 and has cleaned up wells used for drinking water. The agency also said any petroleum in the soil is safe and that it is working with the tribe on other remedial measures.

For the community, there is a clear link between past contamination and the high incidence of cancer and other diseases.

Mason reaffirmed those beliefs in an announcement earlier this year. He stood at a podium and declared — without reservation — that the BIA had further poisoned tribal lands. Agent Orange chemicals were being sprayed extensively through canals, he said, and demanded that the government take swift action.

Health experts say it’s nearly impossible to say for sure whether environment plays a role in cancer diagnoses and deaths, especially without robust data.

The tribal health clinic has recorded more than 500 illnesses that could be cancers since 1992, and is trying to analyze reservation records to determine what the most common types were. A switch from paper to electronic filing in recent years means the data is likely incomplete.

Even if the BIA could account for the time, frequency, concentration and volume of herbicides sprayed on the reservation, that wouldn’t be enough to prove causation, experts say. Genetics, lifestyle and other factors often combine to form a diagnosis.

“The bottom line is that it’s really, really complicated to fit it into things we already know about,” said Lauren Teras, the senior scientific director of epidemiology research at the American Cancer Society.

Mason has called for a study that would give tribal members a better idea of ​​the extent to which chemicals may have been sprayed, and the effect on tribal lands and their residents. He said it could provide tribal members with a way to seek payment from the federal government.