Guest column: Applauds House, Senate support for Manhattan Project park

Editor’s note: National Parks supporters last week applauded the unanimous approval by a House committee of a bill to set up a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include Oak Ridge. Here are statements from two supporters.

Ron Tipton, senior vice president of policy for the National Parks Conservation Association

The National Parks Conservation Association applauds the bipartisan House and Senate support for preserving of our country’s history, through the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act. Today’s announcement provides another positive step forward, as the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan bill introduced by Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, Congressman Ben Lujan, and Congressman Chuck Fleischmann.

These national park sites will provide unparalleled opportunities to improve public understanding of the Manhattan Project, the legacy of the United States’ splitting of the atom, and the national and global impacts associated with harnessing the atom. [Read more...]

Mayor to testify to Congress: Manhattan Project park would honor most significant event of last century

Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

A new national historical park that could include Oak Ridge would honor the history of the Manhattan Project, the most significant event of the 20th Century, Mayor Tom Beehan will tell a U.S. House subcommittee in testimony this morning.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret U.S. program to build the world’s first atomic weapons. The three Manhattan Project sites that could be included in the new park are Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash.

Despite what some detractors might say, the proposed park is not about weapons, Beehan wrote in prepared testimony.

“I believe this historical park is about scientific and engineering accomplishments at a time when our country was defending itself, both during World War II and the Cold War,” he said. [Read more...]

Manhattan Project national park bill also reintroduced in U.S. House

K-25 Building Aerial View

Now mostly demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building is pictured above. The site has previously been identified for possible inclusion in a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

A bill to set up a Manhattan Project national park that would include Oak Ridge has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bipartisan legislation was reintroduced on Friday in the U.S. House by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican;  Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican; and Rep. Ben Luján, a New Mexico Democrat.

The legislation—H.R. 1208—would establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include facilities in Oak Ridge; Hanford, Wash.; and Los Alamos, N.M.

[Read more...]

Mayor testifies before Senate on national park bill

Mayor Tom Beehan will testify before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, advocating for a Manhattan Project national historical park that would include Oak Ridge.

Beehan will represent Oak Ridge and two other Manhattan Project cities—Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M.—as well as the nonprofit Energy Communities Alliance.

He will testify before the National Parks Subcommittee on a bill filed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat. That bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, would set up a national park for Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos.

[Read more...]

Decision on preserving K-25′s North Tower could come soon

ETTP Preservation Meeting

National Park Service employee Jeff Durbin, left, outlines three options for preserving the North Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site. Also pictured, at right, are Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and, second from right, City Manager Mark Watson.

A decade worth of discussions over whether to preserve a part of the historic K-25 uranium-enrichment building in west Oak Ridge could conclude at the end of this month.

A final plan has not been presented, but a final memorandum of agreement could be drafted by May 31, said Susan Cange, acting manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management program in Oak Ridge.

[Read more...]