Concerns Grow Over Indian Reservation Plagued by Radon

The 1,500 residents of the Spokane Indian reservation fear that they will not be able to afford to make the land that their tribe has inhabited for centuries safe for them and their children.

Three years ago, they learned that the ground beneath them was emitting unusually high levels of radon--a colorless, odorless gas that can cause lung cancer.

“There’s a few, especially the older people, who feel that they’ve lived here this many years and say, ‘Why worry about it now?’ They’ve lived here all their lives,” said Dave Wynne, the tribe’s housing director. “But the more and more they hear about it, the more and more concerned a lot of them are getting.”

Initial testing has turned up several houses on the forested hills with radon levels more than 10 times the amount the government considers a health risk. In one house, it was more than 40 times higher.

Radon is released in the decay of radium, which is naturally present in soil and rocks. The gas decays into radioactive particles, which, if inhaled, can damage lung tissue and increase the risk of cancer.

It seeps into homes from the ground and can reach dangerous levels in unventilated spaces. The Environmental Protection Agency considers radon to be the second-leading cause of lung cancer, behind cigarette smoking, but the extent of the threat remains debated.

By apparent coincidence, many of the nation’s radon hot spots are on Indian reservations, said Jerry Leitch, radiation grants officer for the EPA’s Northwest region.

Eleven tribes around the country are testing houses after initial checks showed high radon levels. Money for testing and educating residents about the health hazard come from a $300,000 EPA grant.

The program provides no funds for safeguarding houses by sealing basements and improving ventilation. That can cost $20 to $2,500, depending on the concentration of radon and size of the house, Leitch said.

In general, the federal government provides money to deal with human-caused environmental problems but not natural threats, such as radon.

Few residents can afford the costs and the tribe lacks money to start its own mitigation program. Other tribes with radon problems are finding themselves in similar circumstances, tribal planner Dave Ernest said.

The Spokanes’ unemployment rate stands at 70%. It has been about that high and sometimes higher since two uranium mills on the reservation closed in the early 1980s, Ernest said.

Of 270 homes tested, about one-fourth have readings above four picocuries, the level the EPA considers to pose an unreasonable health risk. Many homes with high readings were just above that level. Several had readings of 10 to 60 picocuries. The highest was 143.