The Midwest's Largest Toxic Amusement Park?

A California developer has proposed a $860 million amusement park on top of a highly-toxic ammunition dump site in Kansas.

1 minute read

May 16, 2001, 1:00 PM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Envisioned to attract about three million annual visitors, the Oz resort would become one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Midwest, replete with golf course, hotel and office park. If approved, the deal would mark a different milestone as well: It would be the first contaminated-weapons sites to be turned over to private hands for cleanup and reuse. Dozens of such toxic zones are festering in communities across the country, while the federal government oversees decades' worth of cleanup work."This could be a model of how to get a federal cleanup property back into the public's use much faster," says Blaine Hastings, project manager of the Sunflower site for the General Services Administration, which acts as the government's landlord for the 9,065-acre parcel of Kansas prairie."

Thanks to Chris Steins

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 in Wall St. Journal

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