Picture postcard of the American Smelting and “Roofing" (actually Refining) Co., Omaha, Nebraska, from 1915. Found in an antique shop in Oklahoma by Rick Galusha.

Mayor Daub has been promoting a plan he says would “clean up” the 23-acre ASARCO lead refinery property along the downtown Omaha riverfront.

The site, which housed a refinery for more than 100 years, contains lead, arsenic, zinc, cadmium and other toxins in the soil and groundwater.

Reporters also have referred to Daub’s plan as a “cleanup.”

Environmentalists say the plan isn’t a cleanup, but a “coverup.”

Daub’s plan would not remove the toxins and haul them to a hazardous waste disposal area, but would bury them on the site, under a cap of clean dirt, bentonite and a synthetic liner. Grass would be planted on top.

The buried toxins would remain there forever. Some in groundwater would continue to seep into the Missouri River.

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “cleanup” this way: 1. A cleaning up. 2. Elimination of crime, vice, graft, etc. as, the new mayor planned a cleanup of the city. 3. (Slang) profit; gain.

The dictionary defines “coverup” thusly: 1. To cover entirely; envelop; wrap. 2. To conceal; be secretive.

So is the mayor’s plan a cleanup or a coverup? You decide.