Public officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reached an agreement Thursday night over how much radiation to remove from a former atomic bomb construction site in the Town of Tonawanda.

The resolution was discussed at a public hearing at the Holmes Elementary School on Dupont Avenue, just five weeks after the chairman of the Erie County Legislature threatened to go to war with the Corps, if it did not alter its cleanup plans.

Corps Commander Lt. Col. Mark Feierstein said the decision to amend the Corps proposal was made in response to concerns voiced by public officials, to earn public trust and because he is committed to cleaning up the site.

"'The bottom line of what we are trying to do on this site, is to do it right the first time," he said.

The contaminated property, known as the Linde site, is located in the town on Sheridan and East Park drives. The property is now owned by Praxair Inc. It has been contaminated since it served as a harvesting site for uranium to help with the construction of the atomic bomb during World War 11. At the time, the site was owned Linde Air Products, a division of Union Carbide.

Legislator Chuck Swanick said he became incensed in April when the Corps adopted a plan that did not reflect an earlier agreement reached in January 1996, while the project was under the supervision of the federal Department of Energy (DOE). The Corps took over the project in October 1997.

"They did get the wrath of my temper last time and I want to apologize," Mr. Swanick said. "We've grown old dealing with this issue. It's taken us a long time, but I think we have a consensus and we can move forward."

Erie County Legislator Charles Swanick

In April, the Corps released a plan which would only have removed uranium to 600 picocuries per gram while the DOE plan proposed a cleanup to 60 picocuries per gram.

Lt. Col. Feierstein said, "There was some concern about the 60 picocuries per gram, what we are going to do is commit to that number."

Mr. Swanick, a member of the Coalition Against Nuclear Material in Tonawanda (CANiT) [1], said he and the other public officials who comprise the committee support the amended Corps plan.

"They did get the wrath of my temper last time and I want to apologize," Mr. Swanick said. "We've grown old dealing with this issue. It's taken us a long time, hut I think we have a consensus and we can move forward."

The federal government first approved a cleanup of the Linda site in 1980.

Richard Tobe, the CANiT chairman and commissioner of the Erie County Department of Environmental Planning, said his group supports the altered plan, despite the Corps's decision not to use an independent contractor to verify the soil has been cleaned up to 60 picocuries per gram.

However, Mr. Tobe said CANiT is willing to accept that decision only if the state Department of Environmental Conservation and CANiT's independent consultant, Dr. David Dooley of the of the MJW Corporation have the ability to check the soil.

Town Supervisor Carl Calabrese, a CANiT member, also was angered by the previous Corps plan. However, he said he wanted to reserve judgment because Corps officials have always been thorough and very accommodating during other cleanup projects.

"We had a problem," Mr. Calabrese said. "We needed to refocus and I think we are back on track."

Although public officials were on board, the meeting and amended plan did receive some opposition.

Members of For A Clean Tonawanda Site (FACTS), a local environmentalist group, took turns speaking against the plan.

Don Finch, a FACTS member, said his organization does not believe 60 picocuries per gram is clean enough. And he doesn't understand the Lt. Colonel's statement that he amended the plan based on public input. The public has been too quiet about the issue, he added.

An irate Ray Krieger, a former employee at the site and member of FACTS, asked Corps officials why they are even bothering to cleanup the site if they plan to do so little work.

Another FACTS member, James Rauch, a pharmacist, also chipped in. He wants the soil cleaned to 5 picocuries per gram.

After hearing several opposing view points, Mr. Swanick and Mr. Calabrese became red-faced again but this time they stood in support or the Corps.

"Let's not lose sight of the big picture here," Mr. Calabrese said. "Contaminated material is leaving the town. I don't know about you folks, but where I come from that's progress. Let's not delve into the minutiae. Let's not lose perspective."

Likewise, Mr. Swanick became irritated.

"I can't change what happened. I can't change that there are people who died (from radiation- related cancer)," he said. "What I can do is get this material out of here. I'm sick and tired of these innuendoes. I've grown old over this issue. If you really don't like us and you really don't trust us, then you can vote us out of here as elected officials."

With that the room erupted into applause.

The only issue remaining, Mr. Swanick said, is for Praxair and the Corps to decide if one building should he torn down. CANiT believes it should. "I say when the anvil is hot, strike."

Lt. Colonel Feierstein said he is uncertain about the fate of the research and development building to which Mr. Swanick was referring. That decision will be made sometime before the Corps signs off on the agreement in July.

Without demolishing that building, known as building 14 [2], the project would cost $28 million. The federal government will fund the project.

If the building is removed, the project will cost an additional $15 million.

Lt. Colonel Feierstein said the building is contaminated, but he is not certain how extensive the damage is. However, he does not believe it is too bad.

The Corps already spent $6 million removing interior waste from the building.

Written public comments will be accepted on the Corps cleanup plan until June 11 and work should begin in August. The target completion date is for fall of next year.

Comments may be sent to the US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, FUSRAP Information Center, l776 Niagara St., Buffalo, NY 14207-3199.

EDITOR'S COMMENTS:

[1] CANiT (Coalition Against Nuclear materials in Tonawanda) A bipartisan group of politicians from Congressman John LaFalce down to local elected officials. CANiT was formed in 1989 to fight the shipping of radioactive waste from Colonie, N.Y. to the Town of Tonawanda for disposal.

[2] Building 14 - A research building that was found to have radioactive contamination above guidelines. (Many workers worked many years in this building and others that were contaminated above present government guidelines.) The building was assessed at $320,000 on the tax rolls. FACTS suggested that the building be demolished. Department of Energy (DOE) said that it would only take a couple of months to decontaminate Building 14. Over two years and millions of dollars later, the building still isn't decontaminated. Recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) who took over the cleanup operation from the DOE, found that there is radiation contamination in and around the foundation of the building. At a recent USACE meeting, when Ralph Krieger asked how did the contamination get under the building, no one could answer the question.

[3] In a related story - WORKER SUFFERS RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION!!! The maintenance worker was contaminated in an area that was claimed to have been already decontaminated at the time of the occurrence.