Published in the Asbury Park Press
By ANDREW GANNON
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
JACKSON -- Township officials say they will boycott all meetings with the Department of Defense regarding removal of plutonium-contaminated soil at the old Bomarc missile site in nearby Plumsted unless those meetings are open to the public.
In addition, officials say they will be accompanied at future public meetings by an expert in nuclear physics with a knowledge of environmental issues to insure the township's interests are protected.
Mayor Geoffrey Yalden grudgingly consented to the measures after a Township Committee meeting last week because of pressure from committee members and the public. However, he said such a tough stand might alienate the Air Force and he did not personally agree.
A resolution calling for public Bomarc meetings will be introduced Monday night, Yalden said this week. Yalden said the consultant would cost the township $30,000 to $50,000.
"It's been made clear we won't be attending," Yalden said last Monday of meetings between Air Force representatives and elected officials from Plumsted, Lakehurst, Manchester and Jackson. "The public didn't want to wait until a (cleanup) proposal was hammered out."
On June 7, 1960, a fire at an air defense site on Fort Dix property destroyed a Bomarc anti-aircraft missile and melted its nuclear warhead. According to Air Force environmental studies, several ounces of plutonium were carried by firefighting water into the ground, where it remains embedded in 8,600 cubic yards of mostly sandy soil.
The Air Force has proposed trucking the contaminated material to a nearby railroad site in Lakehurst to transfer the plutonium to rail cars and shipping it to Utah for disposal in a low-level nuclear waste landfill. Some of the proposed routes take the trucks through Jackson.
Yalden said he and other township officials were invited to the Air Force's preliminary meetings so that a consensus on remediation of the old missile site off Route 539 could be reached.
One such private meeting was scheduled for last night, said 1st Lt. Mike Nachshen, a spokesman for McGuire Air Force Base, who said the Air Force has no plans to open these preliminary meetings to the public.
"This is a courtesy to the mayors," said Nachshen.
But several residents, afraid of the military's intentions, debated the mayor for more than an hour at a committee meeting last week. Some cited the controversy over the Collier Mills Wildlife Management Area, where the state had planned to store 15,000 barrels of radium-contaminated dirt in 1988 before protests and a court order thwarted the plan.
Luane Acevedo of Bryant Drive, an environmental activist, said she distrusts the private meetings.
"By the time this meeting is public, this will be a done deal," Acevedo said.
Committeeman Joseph Grisanti also called for a boycott of what he called the "super secret mayors' meetings."
But Yalden said not attending the meetings could do more harm than good. As evidence, he said the mayors had made a number of requests that the Air Force agreed to. For instance, the Air Force says it will pack the contaminated soil in metal drums instead of sealed plastic bags, and will escort the removal trucks with emergency vehicles.
Lakehurst Mayor Steven Childers said his borough has no plans to break off talks with the Air Force.
"That's ridiculous to say you're not going to talk to anyone," he said.
Nachshen said he was surprised Jackson residents were so adamant about being part of the process.
"To be perfectly honest, we got very little public comment," said Nachshen.
Published: April 5, 2000
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