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Q & A: Sen. Gary Romine speaks about the ASARCO settlement

Sen. Gary Romine
Sen. Gary Romine

With Gov. Jay Nixon’s decision to approve the purchase of a parcel of land in Oregon County to build a state park using funds from the ASARCO settlement, elected officials from Southeast Missouri have had their fears and frustrations realized. Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, has been at the forefront of the fight to keep those funds from being used anywhere but in the affected region. The Missouri Times interviewed Romine about the situation. Here is the abridged transcript, edited for clarity and brevity.

The Missouri Times: What is some of the background behind this settlement?

Sen. Gary Romine: ASARCO was a plant in Leadwood, Missouri that operated for several years in the area. The settlement was approximately $32 million dollars set aside for restoration and acquisition in the area.

TMT: Why is this purchase seen as such a sleight to Southeast Missouri?

Romine: That’s where the concern is coming in. It seems the map has extended its way outside the immediate affected map of damages. Most of the folks in the area have been waiting for the announcement that the funds are available for use.They’ve been waiting to submit their projects to DNR [Department of Natural Resources], so it was a surprise to everyone that this had gone through. That’s been the biggest rub of all this the people that have been most affected by the legacy of the mining were the last to know about the Oregon Acquisition.

There was a public meeting posted on the DNR website for Sept. 2. Most of the people had made their emails available to DNR so they could be notified. Most folks don’t spend their time going to that website on a daily, weekly or annual basis, so we did not feel there was a true form of notification about the meeting. That’s when everything became more intensified. There were other meetings set up… Evidently the process had gotten so far, even the people in Oregon County are opposed to the acquisition. But even with opposition from both sides, the operation is still going forward.

TMT: Since the purchase of this land in Oregon County, does it leave any funds left from the ASARCO settlement?

Romine: My understanding is that there was approximately $42 million [from the settlement]… The press release that came out today is that $10.98 million dollars has been committed for Oregon County and five other projects, so that does leave about $30 million, but there are projects in this area that could use that money up pretty quick. We should not be spending money on this without knowing the real needs of the affected area.

TMT: Why is it so important to keep this settlement money in the affected area?

Romine: There is lead running into the city lake which is the water source for Fredericktown, there is some remediation that needs to take place there, some acquisition, that is something that needed to be addressed. There are others in Iron County, St. Francois, Madison, Reynolds, they had some work that needs to be done, to fully restore and remediate that area, but we don’t know. You can’t do a feasibility study to know, there’s various things that have to come into play. Until you know what the budgetary costs are going to be on these projects, you don’t know.

 

TMT: Does this mean that Rep. Jay Barnes’ bill, HB 1782, is going to be more heavily prioritized in the upcoming session?

Romine: I hope so. I hope it gives us the opportunity to have the debate. We need to have more transparency in the process, and I’m not so sure we shouldn’t be more involved in the implementation process, which is under [the] U.S. Forestry [Service], U.S Fish and Wildlife [Services] and DNR. Those are the three trust duties. What we need to fix is when public hearings are going to be held. Transparency in the process is one of the biggest fixes we need to make.