Thursday, July 22, 1999
Initial $3M is sought for Fernald job fund
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CROSBY TOWNSHIP — A panel of community leaders is waiting to see how much money it will get to help 2,000 Fernald workers find other jobs.
The Fernald Community Reuse Organization (CRO) is charged with offsetting the economic hardship that will come when the former uranium processing plant is cleaned up and closed down in about nine years.
Its members say they need about $12 million over the next three years to create a revolving loan fund, small-business start-up program and economic development corporation. They submitted a request this month for an initial $3 million to last through the fall of 2000.
In about three months, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will tell them if they are going to get it.
“I wish I had a firm grip on how much ... we will be awarded,” CRO consultant Curt Paddock said. “The volume of requests for funds has escalated, even as the availability of funds has not.”
Former nuclear weapons production sites, including Fernald, are vying for a limited amount of “community transition” dollars. The money is appropriated by Congress to stimulate the economy in areas where the federal government is leaving after years of providing jobs and revenue.
The problem, Mr. Paddock said, is that some congressional leaders see their job as done once the Cold War, production-era workers have been moved into other employment. But at Fernald, which stopped cranking out uranium ingots in 1989, many of the workers stayed on site, shifting from production to cleanup activities.
The facility's 2,000 employees will be idled as each phase of the massive cleanup is completed, between now and 2008.
“I'm sure there are a number of people here who immediately recognize that they are working themselves out of a job,” said Gary Stegner, a DOE spokesman at Fernald. “And they would like to get started transitioning to their new career or training as soon as possible.”
The CRO has proposed three programs to help them on their way:
• A revolving, low-interest loan program for towns and companies that would use the money to clean up old industrial sites for redevelopment — work ideally suited to Fernald's trained environmental workers.
• A regional development corporation to market the region to developers who would bring in new firms.
• An incubator program to provide training, equipment and office space for former Fernald workers interested in starting their own small businesses.
Although there is competition for the DOE dollars, officials say Fernald is near the top of the list because it will close before others.
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