By MATT DANIELS
Rantoul Press assistant editor

The ability to make information more accessible and easily understood to the public about the cleanup efforts at the former Chanute Air Force Base was a main point of discussion at the Chanute Restoration Advisory Board meeting Thursday afternoon.

RAB member Denise Becnel expressed sentiments similar to what she brought up at the Jan. 18 public comment meeting.

“My concern has been the fact that there’s a general lack of access in terms of usable information for the public,” she said. “I think there’s a great deal of information; it’s great information, but the problem is that the audience who it’s for is more technical and not layperson. I find that to be an enormous problem because the village of Rantoul, the community of Rantoul, has a right to know what has taken place. There’s been a lot of good work done over the years ... but the information that now exists is not in an accessible form for the average person.”

Becnel said the technical language in the reports and documents concerning proposed plans is too confusing.

“The average person would be lost in a document like this,” she said. “The problem that I have is we keep saying we’re inviting the public, but this is not a user-friendly document in and of itself. My concern is there’s a lot that’s being assumed in terms of accessibility of information to the public.”

Dr. Nick Schneider, a consultant to the board from RAPPS Engineering and Applied Science, said a give-and-take has to occur with some of the information used.

“One is a very simple explanation of what is going to take place,” Schneider said, “but prior to that, someone has to lay out what they want to take place. That needs more explanation.”

Becnel said she understands the need for more explanation, and asked for a one-page document that gives an overview.

Howard Sparrow, project manager for Shaw Environmental, Inc., said he’s in favor of that.

“I understand the viewpoint from the general public that it’s difficult to read and difficult to understand,” Sparrow said. “Originally, we were actually requested to provide much, much more detail in these documents. I think the suggestion of a one-page summary would be appropriate.”

Becnel’s comments came after Schneider broached the idea of developing a user guide that would be available at the Rantoul Public Library.

Schneider said the library has 50 three-ring binders full of various reports and plans of what’s taken place at the base, along with older files containing meeting minutes

in 1991 and 1992 from the environmental coordination team, along with administrative records from 1983-90.

“When you go in there, you walk in there, and if you’re just John Q. Public, you ask where the stuff is about Rantoul, they’ll point you over to the shelves,” he said. “There’s a bunch of these big, thick volumes. John Q. Public (may) pull one out, and as soon as they open it up, good-bye. They go to sleep or they’re just done.”

Schneider said he wants to put together a guide to those documents, which would include listing all the documents that are there and how to look for what you want to find.

“(Another) part would be executive summaries or abstracts of each of those documents,” Schneider said. “You wouldn’t have to pull out documents that are 3-4 inches thick. You could simply read the executive summary, and if something piques your interest, go to that document (and) look up what piqued  your interest. My belief is that we need some guide of that nature.”

RAB member Debra Rawlings asked if the user guide would be cross-referenced to look back on information that was superseded by newer information. Rawlings also suggested that a historical overview be done when the process is complete.

Rantoul resident Karen Roberson, who moved to Rantoul eight months ago and whose husband used to work at the base, attended the meeting and said it doesn’t seem like much has happened at the base since it was closed.

“You’ve got to do better than what you’re doing as far as communicating with the public,” Roberson said. “Most of Rantoul is just divorced from this process because they don’t understand it, and I can see why they would feel that way. I’m sure this committee has done excellent work, but I don’t know because you haven’t communicated that to me. All I know is that when I ride on base, it looks the same way it did in (1993) when everybody was gone. I don’t see any progress.”

Paul Carroll, the environmental coordinator for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, asked Roberson if she gets a sense of the environmental progress by coming to the meeting, and she said she does.

“A lot of people, when they get the material, it’s so above their head that they’re not going to bother with it,” Roberson said. “They figure if they go to the meeting, they’re not going to understand it either.”

At last month’s public comment meeting, a 23-page proposed plan for cleanup at two sites on the base was whittled down from 4,705 pages, Schneider said.

“We’re trying to condense a huge amount of information,” Sparrow said, “down to an understandable format.”

In other business:

— RAB member Doug Rokke asked who is liable for any cleanup of contaminants if an individual purchases any properties on Chanute and the property is then transferred from the Air Force to the individual.

Schneider said potential buyers need to beware and do their own research or investigation before purchasing any property.

“If you accept a property that has contaminants on it,” Schneider said, “you are well advised to clean it up because now it becomes a new source.”

Schneider addressed the board earlier in the meeting about environmental conditions and any liabilities attached to transferred properties.

“It would be unconscionable to take a large property that you might have suspicions about it without first having done some due diligence to see if that property is clean,” he said. “If the ... person who’s giving you or selling you the property, and you accept the property on that basis, then you are responsible for those environmental conditions. It’s pretty much as simple as that.”

— RAB member Ian Wang asked about the missile that is located along U.S. 45 near the west entrance of the former base, and if the board should do anything with it.

Rantoul resident Nancy Kasper, who works at Chanute Air Museum, said the missile is owned by the museum.

“Most of that missile is concrete,” Kasper said. “They poured concrete into it years and years and years ago. We have contacted the Air Force and said, ‘We are willing to give up these items,’ but by saying that, anybody who wants them has to come and get it and pay to get it out.”

Wang said he wasn’t sure if he wanted the missile to stay there, but RAB member Caryl Fothergill said many people want it to stay.

“Taking it down would be devastating,” Rokke said.

RAB co-chair Bruce Sandahl asked what the plans are currently for the missile, and Russell Kasper said there are no plans for it right now because the museum does not have the funds for a restoration project.

Russell Kasper said if someone is willing to come up with expenses, the museum would find someone to do the refurbishing. He estimated a cost of $25,000 to refurbish the missile.

— Carroll said the Air Force, in conjunction with its contract with Shaw Environmental, will clean up water tower 44 to an unrestricted land use site.

“That’s a good positive thing adding on top of what Shaw’s already done to this project,” Carroll said. “That’s a good initiative.”

That water tower, located near the old fire station, is scheduled to be rehabilitated and repainted by this summer. Demolition of the two water towers across from the Rantoul Business Center is scheduled to happen in April.

— Sparrow said 34 of the 42 sites on the base have had remedial actions, and 22 are completed.

“Remedial actions mean do the cleanup of the environment,” Sparrow said. “Our intent is to complete the remediation and cleanup of those remaining 12 sites this year. By the end of this year, we will have completed all 34.”
Sparrow said some of the sites take two to four years to get a final cleanup and determination that all groundwater and contaminants are removed.

— Sparrow said remediation on the laundromat building on the former base will consist of an initial partial demolition of the building, along with excavation of some soils. It will eventually become a site with unrestricted land use.

“It will take several years for the bio-remedation process to undergo,” Sparrow said. “The ultimate disposition of that building is when the new Lincoln’s Challenge facility is constructed and completed, that building will be demolished.”

mdaniels@rantoulpress.com