Saturday, May 20, 2000
Schools to move off tainted site
Deal involves Ohio, Army Corps
By Charley Gillespie
The Associated Press
MARION, Ohio — The state announced a preliminary agreement Friday to move two schools built on the site of an Army depot, near fields contaminated with rusted barrels of cancer-causing chemicals.
The Army Corps of Engineers, River Valley Local Schools and the state agreed in principle to move the high school and middle school and develop their current property for industrial use.
“When you look at this from all sides, this is the cost-effective argument and the best way to go. To clean it up and maintain the school is too costly,” said River Valley Schools Superintendent Tom Shade.
The 78-acre campus in Marion, about 40 miles north of Columbus, was used as a dump for spent solvents and other chemical wastes. The schools, which have about 775 students total, were built in 1962.
An investigation began after questions were raised about the rate of leukemia cases among the high school's graduates.
Nearly 70 current and former Marion County residents were diagnosed with leukemia between 1992 and 1996, and the state health department in July confirmed nine cases among River Valley High graduates. No cause has been found.
Contamination was found below the soil, and some athletic fields were abandoned and fenced off two years ago. Authorities say they still think the site — other than the 6 acres of fenced-off areas — is safe for students and school staff.
The schools' relocation depends on congressional action, voter approval of a $19.6 million bond levy and agreement by the River Valley Board of Education. The board not only wants to move the schools but also to build two elementary schools at a total cost of $43 million.
A news conference about the proposed move drew concerned parents as well as the media.
Robin Millard, 50, said her 27-year-old daughter, Stephanie, was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago.
“I've got a grandson I was supposed to be watching today, but I wouldn't bring him onto campus for one hour,” Ms. Millard said.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved language in a larger defense bill that gives the Army Corps of Engineers authority to consider school relocation as a cleanup option. That change in the law that governs what the Army Corps can do is essential to the arrangement announced Friday; without it, the Army Corps could not legally take part in moving the schools.
That legal authority is in a Senate defense bill which is due for a floor vote later this month.
After the defense bill becomes law, Congress then can legally appropriate $15 million for the Army Corps' share of replacing the schools.
Gov. Bob Taft said that after at least six months of discussions, state officials concluded that new buildings elsewhere would be cheaper than cleaning up the site to school standards. He acknowledged there was some concern about setting a precedent.
Building new schools and cleaning up the site would cost the Army Corps up to about $25 million for its share, compared with a total of about $44 million to keep the schools on the site.
Mr. Taft proposes that about $4.7 million for the school construction would come from the state. He said the state also would expect to contribute toward the redevelopment of the property.
If a bond issue is approved in November, the new schools could open in August 2003, Mr. Shade said.
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