Obama's Budget Protects Funding for Parks Cleanup, River Locks
Aspinwall Hearald
19 February 2012
By Mary Ann Thomas
President Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget stays the course for
paying for the cleanup of the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township
and maintenance for the eight locks and dams on the Allegheny
River.
The president's new budget includes $133 million in new federal
funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District's
civil works program. The president's budget serves as a road map
for federal spending. In reality, Congress draws up and passes the
federal budget.
The fiscal year 2013 budget includes $14.4 million for the
continued cleanup of radioactive and toxic chemical waste from the
former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) nuclear fuel
plant in Apollo and plutonium processing facility in Parks.
For the estimated eight- to 10-year, $170 million project, the
Corps dug up and removed the first radiologically contaminated
waste from the site last summer.
However, the Corps announced in mid-October that it had shut down
operations to investigate the alleged mishandling of nuclear waste
by a contractor at the dump site, which already was set to close
for the winter.
The Army Corps of Engineers' operation and maintenance of the
Allegheny's navigation system is set at $4.3 million for the
fiscal year 2013 budget, compared to $4 million in the current
federal fiscal year.
"Operation of locks and dams will be the same as in the current
budget," said Jeanine Hoey, deputy district engineer for the Army
Corps in Pittsburgh.
It was last year's budget that slashed funding for the Allegheny
locks and dams by 50 percent. That forced the closure of
recreational boat traffic beginning last October through locks No.
8 in Templeton and No 9 in Rimer, with reduced hours of operation
at locks downstream from there.
The Allegheny River navigation system will continue to operate
without a maintenance budget.
"The Corps will do what it can with the funding we got on the
Allegheny River," Hoey said.
If the locks malfunction, the Corps would have to address repairs
on a case-by-case basis, she said.
"It's not a definite 'no,'" said Hoey. "We'd have to find money to
fix it."
Mary Ann Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tribweb.com or
412-782-2121 x1510.