For some time now it has troubled me that no community leader has stepped forward to lead the fight against the ASARCO site becoming a city park. It has also troubled me the only tests that have been run on the site to determine just how toxic the site is were under the control of ASARCO. I haven’t understood how the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality could approve the current plan without qualified scientists providing plans regarding what it will take to properly contain the toxins on the site. It has baffled me that the NDEQ was/is more concerned about an entity such as the city of Omaha with an eternal source of funds, i.e. taxes, being liable for future cleanup as opposed to an entity such as ASARCO that could go bankrupt when they should be concerned about doing the cleanup/containment at this time when ASARCO has the resources, i.e. profits, that would be required. It has concerned me that there has not been a greater public debate about this subject. I haven’t been able to understand why anyone would want a city park where there can be no trees. If the Omaha City Council approves the current plan, it will be the final quandary that I will have to try and understand regarding this subject because I fear nothing else can stop us from having a toxic site as a city park.

One thing I am beginning to understand is why the “Environmental Community” can’t get its act together and make one proposal that community leaders can take a serious look at. There is no data to base a proposal on. No one knows for sure what all the toxins are, how deep in the soil they are, to what extent the toxins are in the ground water, how much toxic waste is laying on the bottom of the river, or how far downstream the toxins have spread. I do understand that the “Environmental Community” is made up of people that work at regular jobs and have families they want to protect from harm now and in the future. Most of them are not scientists; they don’t know how the toxins can best be contained. However, they don’t need to be scientists to understand the current plan will not contain the toxins and they don’t need to be lawyers to understand the current plan does not protect the Omaha taxpayers of the future from the liability of cleaning up this site or building a proper containment facility.

Another thing I am just beginning to understand is how the “Back to the River” coalition plays in this. I think it is why no community leader has come forward to oppose this toxic city park. I see it this way: each member of the coalition is committed to “Back to the River.” If any member of the coalition were to oppose the plans of any other member of the coalition then the coalition might come apart. Each member of the coalition is so committed to the end result that they have all begun to believe the end justifies the means. I understand the city of Omaha is a member of the coalition, but for the sake of future Omaha families the City Council needs to put an end to the current plan and send the mayor’s office and ASARCO back to the drafting table with instructions to work in the open with the community, with scientific data, and with scientific containment proposals.