02/03/08:Shortfall, Layoffs May Delay Badger Ammo Demolition-Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
Shortfall, Layoffs May Delay Badger Ammo Demolition
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL :: D10
Sunday, February 3, 2008
By TIM DAMOS Baraboo News Republic
An expected $18 million shortfall in federal funding has led to the layoff of 62 contract employees at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, the plant's installation director said Tuesday.
State and county officials warn delayed demolition efforts will halt asbestos inspections of old buildings, possibly creating a public health hazard.
The shortfall will delay the demolition of contaminated buildings at the plant and force the Army to rethink cleanup efforts.
Forty-six full-time employees of SpecPro, Inc., an Army contractor doing environmental and demolition work at the plant, learned of their termination Monday and will be out of their jobs in early February. Another 16 full-time employees were laid off in early January, said Joan Kenney, installation director at the plant located south of Baraboo.
The layoff affected almost half the 138 SpecPro employees working at the base at the start of 2008.
Base officials had requested about $19 million for demolition projects on the northern portion of the plant, including the large buildings visible from Highway 12, Kenney said. But the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission approved less than $1 million. The commission was created by Congress in 2005 to review Department of Defense recommendations for closing or realigning bases or military installations. It consists of nine commissioners appointed by President Bush.
"They've determined that they think they can give us enough to maintain necessary operations here that are absolutely required," Kenney said.
That means operating the base's landfill, keeping its wastewater treatment plant going, maintaining security and other basic functions.
The Army's ability to tear down buildings will be severely limited, Kenney said.
Money for environmental cleanup efforts - such as monitoring, pumping and treating groundwater - comes from a different federal funding source and likely will not be affected, Kenney said.
But she said some cleanup plans were designed with the idea that building demolitions would go forward, so the Army will have to rethink its strategy.
The Sauk County Public Health Department is conducting asbestos inspections on the roughly 1,400 structures scattered throughout the 7,000-acre plant, where explosives were manufactured from World War II through the Vietnam War.
"We're evaluating what the real information is on how this will affect our programs to help clean up the site," said Sauk County Public Health Director Michael Steinhauer. "But we are concerned for the long-term public health consequences of not staying on track and being derailed by this lack of funding."
Phone calls to officials at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which oversees Army clean-up efforts, were not returned in time for publication.
The director of a nonprofit group that pushes for tougher cleanup standards around the base said the delay in building demolitions doesn't appear to threaten cleanup efforts.
"Obviously it's disappointing that (building demolition) has slowed down," said Laura Olah, executive director of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. "But we're confident that the cleanup will eventually get done."
Kenney said building demolitions likely will resume as soon as money becomes available.
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL :: D10
Sunday, February 3, 2008
By TIM DAMOS Baraboo News Republic
An expected $18 million shortfall in federal funding has led to the layoff of 62 contract employees at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, the plant's installation director said Tuesday.
State and county officials warn delayed demolition efforts will halt asbestos inspections of old buildings, possibly creating a public health hazard.
The shortfall will delay the demolition of contaminated buildings at the plant and force the Army to rethink cleanup efforts.
Forty-six full-time employees of SpecPro, Inc., an Army contractor doing environmental and demolition work at the plant, learned of their termination Monday and will be out of their jobs in early February. Another 16 full-time employees were laid off in early January, said Joan Kenney, installation director at the plant located south of Baraboo.
The layoff affected almost half the 138 SpecPro employees working at the base at the start of 2008.
Base officials had requested about $19 million for demolition projects on the northern portion of the plant, including the large buildings visible from Highway 12, Kenney said. But the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission approved less than $1 million. The commission was created by Congress in 2005 to review Department of Defense recommendations for closing or realigning bases or military installations. It consists of nine commissioners appointed by President Bush.
"They've determined that they think they can give us enough to maintain necessary operations here that are absolutely required," Kenney said.
That means operating the base's landfill, keeping its wastewater treatment plant going, maintaining security and other basic functions.
The Army's ability to tear down buildings will be severely limited, Kenney said.
Money for environmental cleanup efforts - such as monitoring, pumping and treating groundwater - comes from a different federal funding source and likely will not be affected, Kenney said.
But she said some cleanup plans were designed with the idea that building demolitions would go forward, so the Army will have to rethink its strategy.
The Sauk County Public Health Department is conducting asbestos inspections on the roughly 1,400 structures scattered throughout the 7,000-acre plant, where explosives were manufactured from World War II through the Vietnam War.
"We're evaluating what the real information is on how this will affect our programs to help clean up the site," said Sauk County Public Health Director Michael Steinhauer. "But we are concerned for the long-term public health consequences of not staying on track and being derailed by this lack of funding."
Phone calls to officials at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which oversees Army clean-up efforts, were not returned in time for publication.
The director of a nonprofit group that pushes for tougher cleanup standards around the base said the delay in building demolitions doesn't appear to threaten cleanup efforts.
"Obviously it's disappointing that (building demolition) has slowed down," said Laura Olah, executive director of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. "But we're confident that the cleanup will eventually get done."
Kenney said building demolitions likely will resume as soon as money becomes available.
Submitted by wnpj on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 4:23pm.