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SENATE MEMORIAL 2

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

SECOND SPECIAL SESSION

, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

John Pinto

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO URGE THE

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY TO EXPEDITE THE CLEANUP OF

THE FORT WINGATE AMMUNITION DEPOT AND TO APPROPRIATE THE FUNDS

NECESSARY FOR THAT PURPOSE.

WHEREAS, the Fort Wingate ammunition depot, located east

of Gallup, sits among the red rocks along United States

interstate 40, next to the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni

in New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, Fort Wingate occupies ancestral homelands of both

the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni; and

WHEREAS, Fort Wingate contains sites rich in cultural

heritage and historical significance; and

WHEREAS, over two hundred Navajo ruins were discovered on

the property, as well as several modern earth-covered

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dwellings, called "hogans"; and

WHEREAS, the property served for centuries as a hunting

and gathering area for the Zuni, and over six hundred

archaeological sites were recorded by surveyors, including an

additional two hundred ruins traceable to the Anasazi,

ancestors of the Zuni; and

WHEREAS, in 1918, the army established a munitions depot

at Fort Wingate; and

WHEREAS, from 1918 until its closure, the twenty-two-

thousand-acre installation stored and demolished ammunition;

and

WHEREAS, Fort Wingate stored, conducted functional testing

of and demilitarized munitions, using open-burning detonation,

incineration and bomb washout as the principal demilitarization

methods, and these practices deposited ordnance-related waste

on and off the facility; and

WHEREAS, munitions testing, explosive washout activities,

rocket launches, training activities, open burn, open

detonation, demilitarization, ammunition packaging, storing,

shipping and munitions recycling and remanufacturing have

released contaminants into the ground water and the soil; and

WHEREAS, the aforementioned contaminants, as well as

asbestos and lead paint in buildings, buried waste and

unexploded ordnance, present human health and ecological

hazards at Fort Wingate; and

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WHEREAS, Fort Wingate is under the command of the United

States department of the army and is classified as a hazardous

waste treatment facility under the Hazardous Waste Act and the

federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976; and

WHEREAS, the United States department of the army, the

United States army corps of engineers and the bureau of Indian

affairs have taken collaborative efforts to clean up the site

and to return a large portion of Fort Wingate to the Navajo

Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni; and

WHEREAS, under current funding and appropriations toward

the cleanup of Fort Wingate by the United States, scheduled

compliance with cleanup efforts extends until the year 2020;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE

OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation urge

the United States department of the army to expedite the

cleanup of Fort Wingate so that it may be returned to the

Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni and to appropriate the

funds necessary for that purpose; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to United States Senator Pete V. Domenici, United

States Senator Jeff Bingaman, United States Representative Tom

Udall, United States Representative Steve Pearce, United States

Representative Heather Wilson, the president of the Navajo

Nation, the speaker of the Navajo Nation council and the

governor of the Pueblo of Zuni.