[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION, REUSE: Mound Laboratory, Miamisburg, Ohio

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

How An Ohio Mayor Took On Big Government In The Name Of Economic Development

by Andrew Levine
Forbes
October 18, 2018

Richard Church has been mayor of Miamisburg, Ohio (population 20,181) for 27 years. And for most of that time, he has been fighting the federal government to clean up the Mound Laboratory, a former, atomic energy facility on 305 acres of prime real estate in the center of his hometown. The Mound Laboratory was the first Atomic Energy Commission site built after World War II. It supported the country’s nuclear weapons, space and energy programs over a 55-year period from 1948 to 2003.

But this story starts back on December 16, 1991. Mayor-elect Church had won a November election and was set to take office on January 1. He was at a conference in Las Vegas when he received a telephone call from Miamisburg’s City Manager John Weithofer: “Dick, are you sitting down? I’ve got some really bad news.” The city manager had just learned of the Department of Energy’s decision to shut down the Mound Laboratory and take with it 1,800 jobs.

The community’s first reaction was to fight to keep the facility open. Mayor Church and City Manager Weithofer flew to Washington to meet with Department of Energy officials. “I cannot remember the guy's name, but we met with the assistant secretary of DOE for environmental projects,” according to Mayor Church. “His remarks to me were, ‘We don't care what the mayor or the city manager of Miami thinks.’ He said, Miami, Ohio. And that really honked me off because he didn't even know our full name.” At the end of the meeting Mayor Church responded, “We're going to fight you. We’re going to fight you with everything we have.”

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewlevine2/2018/10/18/keep-that-damned-mayor-out-of-my-office/#71ad39476fe6

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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