Sen. Orrin C. Hatch, R-Utah, has announced that the Air Force has informed him that six companies will receive approximately $13 million each to conduct hazardous waste cleanups at Hill.
But he's still concerned about the delays in these contract awards.The contracts equal a total of $80 million. Reidel Environmental Services of Salt Lake City is one of the recipients. Others are: OHM Remediation Services of Walnut Creek, Calif.; Chemical Waste Management of Oak Brook, Ill.; Westinghouse Remediation Services of Clarkston, Ga.; Hal-li-burton NUS Environmental of Houston; and ACCI of Sacramento, Calif.
Hatch said he has met with a number of Utah environmental companies to discuss the cost of bidding Defense Department projects and the long delays in making the awards. Hill AFB's slowness in making the awards was the specific target of the companies' concerns.
"I discussed the matter with the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment," Hatch said. "They reported that although contracts were being let, they, too, were concerned that actual outlays for funds for work performance were being delayed for long periods of time. They were very cooperative, and I was pleased to see the current award announcements."
Hatch said that although most of the award recipients are from out of state, all of the work will be done in Utah. He has contacted most of the companies and urged them to make a maximum effort to hire locally.