 | | 01-13-2005, 04:46 PM |
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| Passionate Fan
Joined: Dec 2001
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| UNL may have to remove toxic waste
Quote:
UNL may have to remove toxic waste
An unexpected bill for the cleanup of toxic waste will make the University of Nebraska’s budget even tighter.
A small part of the 9,600-acre, university-run Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead contains 30-year-old waste that may need to be removed at the university’s expense.
In the 1970s, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Medical Center legally buried chemical and low-level radioactive waste – mostly research rat droppings – on the land.
Now, more than 30 years later, the Environmental Protection Agency is requiring the university to conduct a study of the contamination the waste has caused and decide if it needs to be removed.
“What the university did was perfectly legal at the time,” said David Lechner, vice president for business and finance. “We don’t get the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.”
The study will take at least three years, costing the university an estimated $2 million. If the waste needs to be removed, several more years would be added to the project, adding $6 million more in expenses.
Lechner said he has no idea where the money will come from.
“We’ll have to find a place for that in the budget,” he said.
The university applied for a $1.4 million grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust in September, but the application is still pending, Lechner said.
The center near Mead is no stranger to toxic waste removal. Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is removing waste left on the land by the Nebraska Ordnance Plant, a government-run munitions plant that closed when the university acquired the land in the 1960s.
During World War II and the Korean War, the plant tested bombs, missiles and munitions and buried its explosive and solvent waste as it went. The waste has since seeped into nearby soil and contaminated the water supply.
In 1990, the area was named to the EPA’s Superfund Site list, a roll of the nation’s worst toxic waste sites.
“I think that everyone is aware and concerned about the potential danger,” said Dan Duncan, director of the center. “My phone has not been ringing off the hook.”
The Mead cleanup project could take anywhere from 40 to 350 years to complete, Duncan said, depending on the technology that is gained in the future.
According the Corps of Engineers, the project has cost $70 million thus far and could cost an additional $130 million, said John Wiltse, an NU lawyer.
In 2004, the United States filed a lawsuit against the university in hopes of recovering some of the removal costs.
On Saturday, the NU Board of Regents will be asked to approve a $71,939 settlement on the lawsuit. Wiltse said approving the settlement should conclude the university’s financial obligation to the cleanup of munitions waste.
As for the medical waste, the board also will be asked to approve the start of the $2 million investigation into the medical waste.
NU Environmental Engineer Bruce Haley said there is no way to know if the waste will need to be removed until after the investigation is completed.
At this point, it appears the waste has not caused any contamination that has affected the center or land surrounding the center, said Haley, who was appointed manager of the cleanup project.
“We haven’t even quantified this yet,” he said. “This study will allow us to determine the level of risk.”
| If the University doesn't get the grant (and even if they do $600K will still need to be raised) programs will have to be cut or tuition will have to be raised, yet again!
This frustarates me so much. If the EPA is so concerned why don't THEY pay for the study? Let's just hope that this waste doesn't prove to be any threat or that will open a whole new can of worms. |
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