Alaska AG Filed a Complaint against Interior Department for Failing to Address Contaminated Alaska Native Lands

Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor filed an amended complaint against the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management for failing to address contamination of lands that were transferred to Alaska Natives under the Alaska Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The amended complaint follows a motion to dismiss by the defendants that “misconstrued congressional directives,” according to the Alaska AG’s press release. Prior to its transfer, the land was contaminated with arsenic, asbestos, lead, mercury, pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls, among other hazardous substances, and the federal government has repeatedly failed to carry out its responsibility to address the contamination, according to the complaint.