Quarter million dollars to remove 100 tonnes of burnt, contaminated corn?
About six truckloads of stored, wet and fire-scorched seed corn will add an estimated $175,000 to the cost of demolishing the flood-and-fire-damaged, former Sinclair meatpacking plant.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying for the demolition, now nearing completion, at a cost that could reach $15 million,Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood-recovery director, said Thursday.
Eyerly said he sees no reason why FEMA would not pay for the additional new cost related to the seed corn, which had been stored at the plant, though he said FEMA has not yet agreed to pay the cost.
The corn belongs to BFC Gas and Electric Co., which operates a gasification plant in southwest Cedar Rapids that burns, among other items, outdated seed corn.
Eyerly said about six truckloads of corn is now mingled with about 25,000 tons of asbestos-containing material at the demolition site.
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