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Oracle residents boycott UA toxic site tests

UA Risk Management officials yesterday began their annual monitoring of the controversial Page Ranch wells, but Oracle residents say the tests are futile.

"From our point of view, we're trying to work with (Director of Risk Management and Safety) Steve Holland, but we don't have any trust remaining," said Dean Prichard, an Oracle resident and a member of the town steering committee. "We don't agree on his testing procedure today ... it's not okay for the rest of Oracle."

Holland said he submitted a letter to the Oracle steering committee on Dec. 15, inviting to split today's samples between the UA's testing laboratory and another lab chosen by the steering committee, but a mix-up kept the letter from being delivered until Jan. 5 - too late to organize such an endeavor.

Oracle residents responded Sunday, asking for the testing to be postponed until next month, but Holland said it was impossible.

"We had already made all the arrangements," he said. "They wanted to run a number of tests we weren't prepared for."

Holland said the UA will conduct a dual-testing process as early as April to appease residents.

University of Arizona officials had originally intended to open today's testing to the public, but no one attended.

"They (Oracle residents) decided not to come today because we didn't split the samples," Holland said. "We're trying to develop a more cooperative approach to this thing."

The UA purchased the Page Trowbridge Ranch land near Oracle in 1941, and then used it as a toxic waste dump until 1986. Since the early 1980s, the use and containment of dumped radioactive materials has spurred complaint from residents who fear the chemicals may contaminate the town's only aquifer.

Holland said the UA tests several wells around the Page Ranch area once a year for certain chemical compounds - a process that costs over $1,000.

However, Holland said the in-depth tests the residents want to perform would cost the UA over $5,000, although he is considering doing such a test in April to ease residents' minds.

These $5,000 tests - which would check for elements like plutonium - would need to be performed every year for residents to regain the UA's trust, Prichard said.

"The rate of (underground chemical) migration is unknown," he said. "We need to know what is in there."

But Holland said the idea of having plutonium in the Page Ranch wells is "out on the edge."

"At some point, it becomes unreasonable," he added. "There is no plutonium in this land