[CPEO-MEF] Rep. Kline seeks funding to help clean up Cold War missile site

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
Rep. Kline seeks funding to help clean up Cold War missile site
Kevin Diaz
Published July 13, 2003 NIKE13

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former Cold War missile site that was intended to
protect the Twin Cities from nuclear attack has come to the forefront of
efforts to clean up 20 obsolete military sites in Minnesota, from radar
installations to prisoner of war camps.

The former Nike missile site near St. Bonifacius, most recently used as
a firefighters training center, is slated for a $250,000 environmental
study of lead, petroleum and other toxic substances believed to be on
the property.

The money is part of a $369 billion military spending bill that passed
the U.S. House last week. The money was requested by Rep. John Kline,
R-Minn., a member of the Armed Services Committee, who has tucked
several million dollars' worth of Minnesota defense contracts into the
bill. The Senate has yet to pass a defense spending bill.

The money is expected to jump-start the long-stalled decontamination of
the Nike missile site, a 1950s-era relic that the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency (MPCA) is considering designating as a Superfund cleanup
site.

Federal officials say most of the ground and water pollution at the site
is the result of fire training exercises, and the MPCA said it is not
considered an immediate health risk.

It is one of 2,743 unused defense installations across the nation and is
among four defunct Twin Cities-area missile sites built in 1958 to shoot
down Soviet bombers at the height of the Cold War.

Some now serve industrial or commercial uses.

Some, like a similar Nike missile site near Farmington, have been bought
as private homesteads.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3984064.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~