Tribes Target Mining Toxins Berry And Herb Fields Suffer, Ailments Increasing, Say Shoshone-Bannocks

For generations, members of the Shoshone-Bannock Indian tribes picked berries and medicinal herbs northwest of Pocatello on their way west to traditional Sun Dance grounds.

But they don’t anymore.

They don’t because of contamination from two phosphate ore processing factories operating in the area for decades.

That’s what Hobby Hevewah, tribal land use commissioner, on Wednesday told researchers for the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

To determine whether contaminants released over the years by FMC Corp. and J.R. Simplot Co. have hurt anyone, researchers went to Fort Hall to hear tribal members’ health concerns.

The agency’s 1995 study revealed an increased incidence of pneumonia and chronic bronchitis among Shoshone-Bannocks compared to Nevada’s Duck Valley Tribe.It appears cancer and congenital heart defects also are occurring unusually often among tribal members, Hevewah said. “All we’re saying is let’s fix what’s going on out here because it’s impacting all of us,” he said.

Many of the tribes’ 3,900 members live in Fort Hall, about eight miles away and frequently downwind from FMC and Simplot. The phosphate plants have operated for decades.

Melissa Hevewah, who works for Indian Health Services, said the tribal health center has treated an increasing number of cases of pneumonia in babies in recent years. There also seems to be more respiratory infections and asthma, especially among children and elderly people.

Information gathered from people living near the plants is expected to help agency scientists adjust conclusions of a 1990 health assessment.

They intend to release a health consultation document about any soil and water concerns by summer’s end.

Meanwhile, EPA officials are expected to decide by Sept. 30 what cleanup orders to give FMC and Simplot.