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Contaminant find almost doomed Calamityville site

Two consulting firms differ on cost of cleanup for site

Map: Proposed Calamityville site

Calamityville funding decision will be worth millions to area

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By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer Updated 9:46 PM Sunday, May 17, 2009

The discovery of trichloroethene, an organic industrial solvent known to damage the kidneys and central nervous system, nearly doomed plans to build a disaster response training center at a former cement plant.

“We found the TCE at the 11th hour, and that changed the whole dynamic of the numbers,” said Deborah McDonnell, Fairborn city manager. “There was a panicked reaction.”

Environment consultants Burgess and Niple found the chemical in late 2008 and, combined with other factors, caused Wright State University officials to signal they were pulling out of two years worth of discussions to locate “Calamityville” on the former Cemex cement production site at 506 E. Xenia Drive.

Estimates to clean up the 70-acre site of hazardous substances, including TCE and asbestos, were close to $4.4 million, according to plans submitted to the city by Burgess and Niple.

Instead, the city and university decided to get a “second opinion.”

But Wright State, in a letter to McDonnell, also warned that without Clean Ohio grant money the environmental problems could make the Cemex site too expensive to pursue for Calamityville.

Dr. Glen Hamilton, the chair of the college of emergency medicine at Wright State who is heading up Calamityville plans, admitted, “We were operating from the highest levels of concern. It became important to clean this up to a residential level, not just a commercial level.”

Another environmental consultant, Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber, painted a much friendlier picture, pegging the cleanup costs at less than $1 million, according to McDonnell and city records.

“We brought in a second firm so we could get a second opinion,” McDonnell explained. “We really thought it was important, if we are spending this money, to have others look at it as well. I feel confident the TCE spill will be easy to clean up.”

In fact, the most recent data found that the amount of the chemical spilled on the site was limited to about a quart, she added.

Fairborn hopes to get up to $2.8 million of Clean Ohio Reclamation Funds to create the multimillion dollar training center to attract thousands of medical personnel annually to train in simulated disaster-like conditions.

If Fairborn gets the cleanup money, Cemex has agreed to give the property to the city in exchange for being freed from environmental and other cleanup obligations, according to city and university records.

Wright State University officials from the school’s department of emergency medicine and Fairborn city leaders have been negotiating with Cemex since 2007, trying to get the company to donate the land for Calamityville. Records show officials tried to convince the billion dollar, multinational company to free itself from the environmental liability and show it is a good community partner.

Jennifer Borgen, spokewoman for Cemex, said the company was gradually cleaning up the site as Cemex’s operations were moved to the Bath Twp. plant. “I guess you could say it was good timing, or good fortune, this project came along,” Borgen said. “Growth for Fairborn and Greene County means growth for Cemex.”

Dr. Hamilton, heading up the project for Wright State, says the site is perfect because existing structures — buildings, silos and underground tunnels — can become props for training. “In many ways, it had a sense of being tailor-made for our purposes,” Hamilton said. “And we can do some good, bring a property back to life.”

Calamityville will be constructed in three stages, Hamilton says, with the cleanup; then “enhancement” of the training areas and facilities; and, finally, construction of a medical logistics building for more training, research and testing of medical products.

Much of the funding comes from state and federal grants and earmarks. “We have been able to put together just shy of $10 million to clean the place up, build the place up and staff it,” Hamilton said.

A lot of that money was promised because of strong political support. Public records show nearly every area politician, from county commissioners to U.S. senators, have supported the idea in some way.

While building costs are estimated at about $15 million, the facility could generate $75 million a year for the region and create 20 to 30 new, high-paying jobs.

Fairborn City Manager McDonnell said it would be a big victory for her city. “Fairborn needs to become a contributor to the Miami Valley and its growth initiatives that are regionally based,” McDonnell said. “This is a chance to be a regional player.”

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