Ohio EPA reviewing use of stimulus funds at site

May 16, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s environmental agency said Friday it is reviewing its decision to use money from President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package to treat groundwater at a Cold War-era weapons site that was declared cleaned up two years ago.

The former RMI Extrusion Plant near Ashtabula, about 50 miles northeast of Cleveland, processed uranium for nuclear programs between 1962 and 1988.

A private company was selected to get $1.1 million in stimulus money for what it says is contaminated soil left at the site.

That decision, announced last month by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, created confusion among federal regulators, who celebrated the end of cleanup with a ceremony in 2007 featuring then-Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.

“We’re not aware of any remaining problems there,” U.S. Energy Department spokesman Bill Taylor said. “If there were an outstanding issue, we’d still be out there working.”

The Ohio EPA, which is overseeing $278 million in federal stimulus money for 324 water and sewer projects, is working to verify the status of the Ashtabula site, said Gregory Smith, the agency’s chief of environmental and financial assistance.

The agency hasn’t released the money, nor has it determined if the project will stay on its final list, he said.

If not, the money could help fund a project that was bypassed. A decision is expected in about two weeks.

All projects were selected based on an applicant’s description of the environmental problem, Smith said.

Because Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package puts an emphasis on getting money out quickly, the state EPA had a shorter time to do initial research on the applications, he said.

Absorbent Materials Co. LLC stated on its application that the weapons plant site had high levels of trichloroethylene and that the chemical is mixed with uranium contaminants.

Drinking small amounts of the chemical for long periods may cause liver and kidney damage, according the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

CEO Stephen Spoonamore said his company in Wooster based its application on 2004-06 geological data supplied by a contractor that had done previous environmental work at the site.

If the cleanup is complete, “then we were in error and stand corrected,” he said.

About 1.1 million metric tons of waste was removed at the 42-acre site over a decade-long cleanup program, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The plant’s main buildings also were removed, leaving a mostly vacant lot, said Ryan Whitmire, a zoning inspector in Ashtabula Township, where the plant is located. He said he was unaware of any remaining ground contamination.

The property, which sits next to a junkyard, was sold in 2007 to Cochran Properties LLC. There was no phone listing for the company.