The bigwigs seeking approval to relocate the Kansas City Plant are one rubber stamp closer to their goal. The factory, which makes non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons, will likely be allowed to abandon the Bannister Federal Complex for a new facility, to be built north of Missouri Highway 150 on Botts Road.
The suits piled into the packed 10th floor meeting room at City Hall included representatives from Zimmer Real Estate Services, CenterPoint Property Trust, the U.S. General Services Administration and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
As they presented their plan to city officials for the umpteenth time, this time before the City Council's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it was interesting to note the former council members who stand to benefit from the project's approval. Jerry Riffel, a former city councilman for the 4th District, was at the meeting in his capacity as a Lathrop & Gage attorney representing CenterPoint and Zimmer in the development proceedings. Troy Nash, who left his council position in 2007 to join Zimmer as a development consultant, was present, and sounded like an auctioneer as he listed the economic prizes that await the City of Grandview if the plant is allowed to relocate.
From the remarks made by Councilwomen Cathy Jolly and Melba Curls in anticipation of the developers' presentation, it was apparent that this deal was already sealed.
"Unilateral disarmament is not something we can do," Jolly told the standing-room-only crowd, where several anti-nuke activists held up signs quoting Robert Oppenheimer and declaring their opposition to nuclear weapons.
"I've gotten more feedback in support of this project than against it," Curls chimed in. "Everyone wants to say, 'Not in my backyard,' and then it goes to someone else's backyard and they're glad to have it."
The councilwomen alluded to the beguiling numbers quoted by Plant and government representatives, saying they represent a windfall that the city can't stand to lose. The $640 million dollar project, once built, will hurl $1.6 million tax dollars into the coffers of the Grandview School District -- this, on a soybean field that currently pays out a mere $652 in proeprty taxes. Mark Holecek, the Kansas City Plant's deputy site manager for the NNSA, repeated an equation he's stated in prior meetings: Every million dollars spent on
the new facility's construction represents an additional $4.3 million in future
local-economy stimulus.
"As we move this facility, we are becoming more and more friendly from a chemical standpoint and a worker safety standpoint," Holecek told the committee.
But, as this article previously explained, hundreds if not thousands of workers have become ill and died as a result of complications from handling hazardous chemicals like beryllium while working at the Kansas City Plant over its 60-year lifespan.
A man speaking on behalf of at least a dozen tradesmen and construction workers in the audience took exception to the idea that the plant wasn't doing enough to keep it's workers safe, noting that the government recently approved $5 million dollars to fund the Department of Labor's energy employee health screening program for another five years. He said he'd been exposed to countless hazards at countless job sites, and though he'd only worked at the Kansas City Plant for one day, he was still given a free screening to check his levels of chemical exposure. "I want to know, what other employer has taken its responsibility" for worker health so seriously, he asked rhetorically.
Sadly, some loopy testimonials in opposition to nuclear warfare only served to dismantle what were otherwise valid arguments against the plant's relocation. Ron Faust, who identified himself as a minister with the Disciples of Christ, read a poem entitled "Frozen," about a drunk guy he'd found laying in a snowbank, to serve as his plea for "true compassion." And attorney Henry Stoever name-checked everyone from Einstein to Job from the Old Testament in a scattered appeal for a re-examination of the approval process that ultimately blessed the project's funding scheme.
Maurice Copeland, former Kansas City Plant worker, was one of the last to speak. He said that he wasn't actually against the plant's move and continued operation. "Make as much money as you can -- I did, too," he said. But he warned of the contamination that remains at the Bannister site. "Think of the caves up under this property, and the contamination we put in the ground that we haven't told you about," he said. When the extent of the pollution comes to light, he told the council members, "I guarantee you'll say, 'We didn't know.'... and you're gonna remember me and think, 'That guy was right.'"
Councilman Terry Riley, Councilwoman Jan Marcason and Councilwomen Jolly and Curls all voted "do pass" on the ordinance, which will presumably be heard next Thursday before the full council.
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Its a tragedy that hundreds of innocent office workers have been exposed to death causing toxins ...from merely working next door to DoE. I hope the facilty does move..a toxin producing plant does NOT belong around neighorhoods, office workers such as Defense Finance and Accounting Service, IRS and others. This plant belongs in a soy field...but what about the toxins left behind...who is cleaning it up and WHEN WILL GSA AND DOE ADMIT - they inadvertently exposed innocent office workers to cancer causing toxins and pay them a compensation such as the one given to DoE employees? What about NON-DOE sick and dying people...what about them?
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