Delays Loom for Toxic Waste Cleanup

A lack of money could delay further toxic waste cleanup at two sites in the Augusta, Ga., area, state regulators say.

A Georgia fund set up in 1992 to pay cleanup costs when owners of industries that produce hazardous waste can't or won't do the work themselves has been dwindling because of tight budgets in many state agencies.

"When you talk about cutting at that level, projects can be postponed for a long time," said Jennifer Kaduck of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division. "It's a tough issue and one that we'll deal with one way or another."

The agency collects about $14 million a year and has 537 sites statewide that require some level of exploration or cleanup. Two of the sites -- the former Goldberg scrap metal yard and the Alternate Energy Resources recycling site -- are in Augusta.

About $10 million has been spent at the Goldberg site, where mercury and thousands of tons of scrap metal and contaminated soil have been removed. But state officials say an additional $135,000 will be needed to further explore contamination in groundwater beneath the site. And, at Alternate Energy Resources an estimated $250,000 is needed for soil work and $3.5 million for groundwater work.

Officials say getting the work done will be tough in the face of money woes. While the environmental agency collects the fees from waste generators that support the fund, state lawmakers decide how much money actually goes into the fund, Kaduck said.

In 2002, $7.6 million was set aside for the fund plus a $5.2 million supplemental appropriation. Last year, there was a $7.6 million allocation, but no supplemental funding.