Free Notice (Other) - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00945-FMA

Document 60-2

Filed 07/08/2008

Page 1 of 3

United States Department of the Interior
OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR

1849 C Street N.W. Washington, DC 20240
Indian Trust Litigation Office Room 6422

Exhibit 1

July 8, 2008 MEMORANDUM

TO: FROM: RE: Background

Robert Rodrigues, Department of Justice Gladys Cojocari, Attorney Advisor, Office of the Solicitor Addendum to Report on Discovery of Damaged Documents

This is an addendum to my report of May 8, 2008, concerning the discovery of 11 boxes containing documents damaged by mold or water out of a group of 709 boxes moved from the Window Rock Realty Office ("WRRO") to the Navajo Regional Office ("NRO") in Gallup, New Mexico. Nine of these boxes were identified in the course of a privilege review conducted by the Solicitor's Office, which reviewed 135 boxes out of the 709. During the week of June 30, 2008, in the exercise of caution, I conducted a file-by-file review of these 135 boxes to ensure that no damaged documents had been missed. I did so given that the initial review had been conducted for privilege, not damage, and damage is not always immediately evident. Specifically, damage can be concentrated on the edges or spines of files which may not be readily apparent to the eye This secondary, focused review uncovered an additional seven boxes from the same accession out of the WRRO containing at least one document showing signs of mold/mildew or water damage. None of the records in the 7 boxes were rendered illegible. In general, the damage observed to documents in this group of 7 boxes is less obvious than the damage reported to documents in the first group. These additional potentially, damaged documents were moved from the same place, Window Rock, Arizona, to the same Gallup Federal Building and stored under the same conditions as those identified in my May 8 report. There have been no intervening events to cause additional damage since that time. Therefore, defendant's answers to the Court's questions concerning the best estimate of when the damage occurred and the circumstances concerning the discovery of the damage remain the same as in my May 8, 2008 report. Inventory of Additional Boxes containing damage to documents. Following is a description by accession number of the contents of the seven additional boxes and the damage that I observed to them:

Case 1:06-cv-00945-FMA

Document 60-2

Filed 07/08/2008

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· N00-07-8124 Box 94 of 258 The box contains 12 folders. One is labeled the Navajo Tribe Uranium and Vanadium leases FY 1962; the remaining 11 are collection files from 1965 to 1980. One folder shows signs of water damage and mildew along the edges of a few documents.
! N00-07-8124 Box 182 of 258 This box contains 16 folders of oil and gas and uranium leases from 1963-1984, royalty statements and exploration plans. One folder and the documents therein show water stains along the edges.

! N00-07-8124 Box 188 of 258 Uranium Leases 1967-1985. Three folders show signs of water damage, and there is also damage to a set of blueprints. Other documents are not affected. N00-07-8124 Box 199 of 258 This box contains 15 files of Oil and Gas Production on Tribal Lands, December 1964 to February, 1966. All folders show some signs of water damage and a few have mildew on the inner edges.
!

! N00-07-8124 Box 210 of 258 This box contains 19 Oil and Gas files from FY1981-1988. Two files show signs of mildew on the spines of the files and on the edges of a few documents. ! N00-07-8124 Box 220 of 258 This box contains cancelled uranium leases organized by company. Three folders show signs of discoloration on the spine, and the backs of approximately 10 pages of documents are affected. The affected folders are: Vanadium Company Production Reports from 1956 and 1961, and correspondence from 1953. ! N00-07-8124 Box 232 of 258 This box contains ten Indian Land Lease case files, ranging from 1960 to 2008. Three folders show slight water damage, and the margins of some documents in one are mildewed. Only the additional boxes containing documents showing mold or water damage in need of possible remediation have been identified above. These will be sent to OTR's remediation contractor in Albuquerque along with the eleven previously identified boxes when the Court approves the planned document move. With the addition of these 7 boxes, a total of 581 boxes (rather than 574) will be sent to the GSA Warehouse in Albuquerque for assessment and, if necessary, remediation. Finally I would note that this accession also contains many documents from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Many of these are brittle and discolored simply because of age. I have 2

Case 1:06-cv-00945-FMA

Document 60-2

Filed 07/08/2008

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requested plaintiff's reviewers to use extra care with these.

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