Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
when I was in the Ohio River Division. We're talking about five years before, in the Ohio
River basin, where it was very obvious with the people in the Northeast clamoring about the
soft-coal-burning plants along the Ohio River that were causing acid rain. So, it was only
starting in Germany, I think, during this time frame. From my reading, that's persisted since.
Q:
Were there any other major projects held up by, if not environmental objections, other
problems with the German government? I've read a little bit about the RheinbergReichel
project, and I'm not sure whether that was--was that a controversial issue while you were
there?
A:
Yes, Rheinberg was a controversy. I'm pretty vague about it, as a matter of fact. I guess time
obliterates.
It started back while I was there in the '79 time frame. I remember Charlie McNeill of ISAE
going out after the acquisition of the former rug factory because it was an existing building
with all the utilities. Part of General Groves' overall thought about stationing in Europe was
that if we were going to have people--that is, our operational reserves--potentially fight up
in the NORTHAG [Northern Army Group] area, then we ought to have a reinforcing
capability for the people who came over to build up the U.S. force. They ought to have a
place where there could be a headquarters, and storage of certain things, and be a central
place to do that in the NORTHAG area.
So, first was a lot of dialogue and issues about whether it should be NATO funded or not,
and we had to go through the whole NATO process. As part of the NATO infrastructure
program, the German AFCENT commander had to approve and the German government had
to support the projects. Then there were rules in NATO about some part of it could be NATO
funded, but if it was just for U.S. facilities, then it's not supposed to be. So, they went some
years on that issue.
By the time I arrived in 1987, that was fairly well sorted out, but now there was an issue
about whether we could reroute the highway or not, and how much would go where. I went
up to visit the area and walked through the huge facility. EUD wanted to get on with the
design, and what we put where was sort of conceptually laid out, but it was contingent upon
our being able to solve the acquisition of the property and to relocate what was a major
thoroughfare right in front of the factory.
The Germans wanted us to put the parking on the far side of the highway and then have our
people walk across this thoroughfare to get to their work site. We didn't want that, thinking
about terrorist activities. First of all, normal security for any kind of a U.S. installation and
storage facility, where you have few people, lots of facilities, is sensitive. Second, then, the
fact that terrorists were something to seriously consider in this time frame. Then finally, just
the plain fact of having our people subject to having to cross a major thoroughfare. I'm
talking, you know, about BMWs and Mercedes roaring by.
So, what we wanted to do was move the highway over several hundred feet. That would
allow us to fence on this side, park our people inside the fence, and then they could go in and
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