Source: Salina Journal (KS), June 17, 2015
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
Salina Airport Authority board members approved filing a $2 million claim against a former tenant, Hawker Beechcraft, for its part in the contamination of the former Schilling Air Force Base.
Hawker has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is willing to stipulate to that amount, said Greg Bengtson, a Salina attorney and legal counsel to the airport authority.
Bengtson warned that the amount that the Salina Public Entities receive will be “pennies on the dollar” in relation to the actual claim.
“Any recovery is not as significant as the amount of the claim,” he told the board.
There may be other “potential responsible parties” since the base closed in 1965, said Tim Rogers, executive director of the airport authority.
Agreeing to Hawker’s stipulation is cheaper than the cost of fighting for a higher amount in federal court, Rogers said.
“We knew we couldn’t afford to spend too much pursuing that,” Bengtson said. “The stipulation takes us out of having to prove it.”
The four Salina Public Entities — city of Salina, Salina School District, airport authority and Kansas State University — are in the process of completing a remedial investigation and feasibility study of cleanup of contamination at the former base.
Environmental study ongoing
That study, being conducted by environmental consulting firm Dragun Corp., is essential before the actual cleanup can begin in a few years.
Contaminants, primarily trichloroethylene, or TCE, is in the soil and groundwater, and plumes of it are moving slowly toward Salina’s water wells.
TCE was used by the U.S. Air Force as a solvent.
Any other contaminants, including whatever might or might not have been contributed by Hawker Beechcraft, are “commingled” with the other pollutants in the soil and water, Rogers said.
The stipulation, he said, “prepares us to go back to the Department of Justice and demonstrates consent decree compliance.”
Hawker Beechcraft was a longtime tenant at the Salina Airport and Airport Industrial Center. The Wichita airplane maker left in February 2012, after closing its Salina division.