CHICAGO VALLEY NAMED WASTE SITE Chicago Valley, located 5 miles east of Shoshone, has been named as a potential Hazardous Waste Dump site by the Inyo County Health Department. Each county in California has been required by state law to produce a Hazardous Waste Management Plan and to identify potential dump sites. The other sites named in the plan are the defunct lumber mill north of Pearsonville and Centennial Flats, west of Darwin. "We are not required by law to specify what type of waste will be shipped to these sites. The material must fit the management plan's requirements, with the state and federal legislation identifying only a few. The issue has been left for local governments to address," said Stacey Badgett of the Inyo County Health Department. In a related story, Ogden Environmental, a company based in Sacramento, has expressed an interest in buying land in Southern Inyo for the possible construction of an incinerator type hazardous waste facility. "The only site they've expressed any interest in is the old sawmill site near Pearsonville," said Ms. Badgett.

WARD VALLEY SITE CROOSEN AS NEW RADIOACTIVE DUMP The Ward Valley site has been chosen for the location of California's radioactive waste dump, state officials announced March 16th. The new disposal facility in San Bernardino county near the Nevada state line is expected to be accepting waste by 1990, the State Department of Health Services said. The alternative site, if unexpected problems occur at Ward Valley is Silurian Valley near Baker, according to Ron Gaynor of U.S. Ecology. U.S. Ecology, the firm under contract to the state to provide a site and built a facility, spent two years studying 18 desert basins, including a site in Panamint Valley. According to a fact sheet prepared by U.S. Ecology, Panamint Valley is an ancient, historic and current use area for Native Americans, and is considered homeland by the Western Shoshone. Sacred areas also exist in the valley, which is a source of plants use by Native Americans. Concerns were also raised about possible effects on nearby Death Valley National Monument, including increased traffic and the less than ideal road conditions of the area. The generally unstable geologic formations and possible groundwater contamination as well as disruption of scenic vistas in the monument were also questioned by Park officials.

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