[CPEO-MEF] Camp Bonneville update

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Army may release Camp Bonneville by October 

The Oregonian 02/06/03

FOSTER CHURCH 

VANCOUVER -- A new mood of generosity by the U.S. Army could allow Clark
County to take possession of Camp Bonneville by Oct. 1, a county
official says. 

In 1998, the county completed a plan make a park of the 3,840-acre site
north of Camas, which the Army used for training since 1909. 

The hang-up has been the presence of unexploded munitions and
groundwater contamination. Estimates of the cost to search out the
ordnance and deal with the groundwater have ranged from $30 million to
$100 million. 

The Army, which has been working on the site since 1998, has been
criticized for moving too slowly. 

But County Commissioner Judie Stanton said Wednesday that the prospect
of turning the camp over to the county has made the Army more willing to
consider committing money for cleanup and for insurance to get the job
done. She said she visited the Pentagon last fall and later in December
and discussed the county's willingness to take the camp, as well as
conditions to which the Army would have to agree. 

...

An on-the-ground survey of the camp to determine which areas require
more investigation is continuing at the camp. The county and the Army
have not yet agreed on a detailed cleanup plan. 

The state Ecology Department recently submitted a plan to the Army, but
the Army balked at giving the state authority over the site. 

As a result, the Ecology Department Wednesday released its own order of
what is required
from the state's point of view. 

...

for the entire story, see
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/metro_north_news/1044536648238500.xml?oregonian

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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