Sep 9, 2008 5:22 pm US/Eastern
Cost Of Beetle Battle Could Pinch Worcester
WORCESTER (WBZ) ―
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Asian Longhorned Beetle
WBZ
WBZ's Ron Sanders has learned the cost of eradicating
Asian Longhorned Beetles from Worcester could pass $100 million; and the federal government wants the city to pick-up a large share of that cost which both of the Bay State's U.S. Senators and Worcester's Congressman oppose.
Donna Massie, credited with discovering ALB infestation in her yard in Worcester, says she feels the city should not pay one penny to get rid of it because the city did not bring the beetles here.
"I was afraid this was going to happen," she told Sanders.
But, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked the city and the state to pick up half the tab for eradication which it expects to reach as high as $24 million in the first year and $120 million over a five-year treatment program.
"It's a staggering sum of money," says Worcester City Manager Michael O'Brien who explains that sharing half the cost with the state would be devastating to Worcester.
"Our dollars are spent on police, fire, schools, teachers and the like and we run on razor-thin margins," O'Brien said.
So, as the U.S.D.A. prepares to eradicate the beetles, Senators Edward Kennedy, John Kerry and Congressman Jim McGovern have sent Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer a letter saying, in part, "It was not Worcester or the Commonwealth that caused this invasive pest to arrive on our nation's hardwood tree stand, so why is it even 1 percent of their cost to address it?"
The beetles are believed to have arrived from China in shipping materials and threaten billions of dollars in damage to lumber, maple syrup and related industries.
"Right now we shouldn't be squabbling over costs. This is a national emergency," says O'Brien.
The letter from Senators Kennedy, Kerry and Congressman McGovern urges the federal government to commit 100 percent funding for eradication of the beetle here immediately because they say "time is of the essence" in getting rid of the destructive bugs.
The City of Worcester has not yet received a response from the Secretary of Agriculture about cost-sharing but continues to work with U.S.D.A. scientists to determine the scope of infestation and develop a plan to get rid of it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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