Tri-City Herald from Pasco, Washington • A8

8A HERALD SUNDAY MARCH 27 2022 said Teri Don- aldson, DOE inspector general, in a statement released Thursday eve- ning. HPMC could not imme- diately be reached for comment Thursday eve- ning. In September 2021, about two months after the loan was transferred to the personal account, the full amount of the loan money was distributed through Cor- nerstone Wealth Strate- gies to various charities, according to a federal court document filed Wednesday. HPMC officials said during the investigation that the the donations were handled as personal donations of the Mooers rather than donations from HPMC. HPMC continued to receive full payments under its DOE contract, and in fact its business at the Hanford site increased because it was awarded additional contract work related to testing for CO- VID-19 and vaccine ad- ministration, according to a court document.

HPMC was awarded a DOE contract at the end of 2018 valued at $152 million for up to seven years. The contract included several payment methods, including fixed prices for some services, reimburse- ment of building and equipment costs, and payment to be negotiated for additional work. Grover Cleveland Mooers was accused in a court document of know- ingly provide false state- ments in support of application for loan forgiveness. He falsely certified that the loan was used to cover HPMC business-related expenses and that the loan was eligible for forgive- ness, which it was not, according to the court document. In the application to have the loan forgiven, Mooers certified that the loan was used to pay for eligible costs in the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program.

That could include payroll to retain employees, mort- gage interest, rent, util- ities, operation costs, property damage, supplies or worker protection. LOAN FRAUD PENALTIES Under the terms of an agreement to resolve criminal and civil liability in connection with the loan, HPMC will pay the federal government almost $2.7 million in restitution and penalties. Criminal charges against the company will be deferred for three years and during that probation it must not commit any criminal or civil offenses. The Mooers must pay an additional $250,000 of their own money to the federal government, ac- cording to the U.S. Office of the Eastern District of Washington.

Grover Cleveland Mooers has agreed to step down from HPMC, and not serve as a principal employee, manager or adviser for HPMC for three years. HPMC also has agreed to pay for an independent audit of the accounting practices relat- ed to expenses, distribu- tions, dividends, salaries and expenses to the Mooers or any other HPMC officers, owners or shareholders. to gain access to pandemic response programs is not without said West- on King, regional special agent in charge of the SBA Office of Inspector Gener- al, in a statement. The SBA Office of Inspector General also investigated HPMC. The initial complaint about HPMC was made by a DOE official to the DOE Office of Inspector Gener- al, according to a court document.

This case was investi- gated as part of the U.S. Office CO- VID-19 Fraud Strike Force, an interagency team of federal law en- forcement agencies combating COVID relief fraud in Eastern Washington. The 580-square-mile nuclear reservation in Eastern Washington was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce almost two-thirds of the plutonium for the nuclear weapons program. Now the federal govern- ment is spending more than $2.5 billion a year to maintain the site and clean up radioactive and other hazardous chemical waste and contamination. Most of the work is done by contractors hired by DOE.

Annette Cary: 509-416-6136, FROM PAGE 1A HPM CORP. ELAINE THOMPSON AP file A sign at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is posted near Richland on Aug. 14, 2019. Workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation started the first large-scale treatment of radioactive and chemical wastes from large underground storage tanks, a key milestone in cleaning up the site. most traveled city streets in Tri-Cities.

An estimated 42,000 vehicles a day pass through the intersection at the southern end of George Washington Way where it meets Aaron Drive and Columbia Point Drive and connects with Highway 240 and In- terstate 182. Thousands of those drivers are workers com- muting through Richland daily to and from the Han- ford nuclear reservation site and the Department of Pacific North- west National Laboratory. While many Tri-Citians are quick to tell you a fourth bridge over the Columbia River is the solution for diverting many of those drivers, that idea died quietly in 2019. The Benton Franklin Council of Governments helped lead a study that concluded in December 2019 that found, of sever- al options for easing con- gestion in Richland, a bridge over the Columbia River in north Richland was the lowest ranked option. A new bridge also is estimated to be more expensive than the other five options combined.

Rogalsky told the Her- ald getting a new bridge would mean making their case to the state, and even if they were successful it could take more than a decade just to get started if the process for replac- ing the Interstate 5 bridge from Portland to Vancouv- er was any indication. Discussion of a new bridge has been a staple of water-cooler gossip for decades. At one point there was even talk of making it a toll bridge. He said when it comes to evaluating their actual needs and the possible solutions, a new bridge over the Columbia River loses every time. north Richland Bridge has been the topic of several planning efforts in the last decade or so, none of which have ended up highlighting it as a top priority Rogalsky said.

credible trans- portation planning person is putting any energy into he said. TRAFFIC-EASING OPTIONS Instead, Richland is looking to begin work on two of the other options that were ranked against the potential bridge, and plans to begin searching for funding for the others. The proposed location of the bridge was just over a mile north of Horn Rapids Road, and would have connected Richland to Pasco near the north end of their Broadmoor development project. The major projects Richland is currently working toward are the Highway 240 and Aaron Drive interchange im- provements and a number of improvements to George Washington Way. These two projects were the second- and third- highest ranked, and are intended to help better manage during heavy traffic.

Options in the Re- gional North-South Travel Capacity Survey: A Highway 240 bypass $132.3 million. Possible overpasses and underpasses to eliminate cross traffic. A Aaron Interchange $29.9 million. Reconfigure the intersection, most likely adding a roundabout. A George Washington Point Drive intersection $12 million.

Add lanes and reconfigure the intersection. A Kingsgate extension $83.4 million. Extend Kingsgate Way from Highway 240 to Keene Road. A Widen Highway 240 Southbound $25.1 million. Add another southbound lane on Highway 240 from north of Vantage highway to I-182.

A North Richland bridge $270-450 million. Bridge would be 1.25 miles north of Horn Rapids Road and cross to Columbia River 68 in Pasco. The options were ranked using a variety of factors, including: ped- estrian safety, environ- mental impact, intersec- tion delay, frequency of wrecks, traffic volume, complexity of the project, cost and more. punchline of all these studies is, if some- one decided to spend $500 million to put that bridge up there it would help fewer people than what going to do with $40 million on the south end at 240 and Aaron Rogalsky said. new route is going to connect some people to some other pla- ces, but the relative value of the bridge is Rogalsky said the city has an approved design for the changes at High- way 240 and Aaron Drive, and the city council re- cently approved an engi- neering contract for de- sign improvements to the south end of George Washington Way, where it connects to Columbia Point Drive.

have the money to do construction for G-way at this point but going to be doing design work and chasing grant he said. second project is 240 and Aaron, a significant congestion choke he said. have an approved design concept with WashDOT to make dra- matic improvements to those Rogalsky said they made their case to state legislators for funding for the Aaron and Highway 240 project this year, but were unsuccessful. He said the city tries to be reasonable with re- quests, asking for funding for mid-tier projects total- ing $30 million to $50 million each. In the last round of funding, the Tri-Cities received about $100 million total.

While the city can man- age funding some of the George Washington Way improvements with the help of grants, Highway 240 is managed by the Washington State Depart- ment of Transportation and will need to be funded through the coffers. Rogalsky said their best course of action at this point is to work with WSDOT to make the case for including it in the next smaller infrastructure funding package. State officials estimate the pro- ject will cost about $30 million. LONG-TERM PLANS After the Highway 240- Aaron Drive interchange improvements are funded, the next step will be mak- ing improvements to the Highway 240 bypass. Those improvements would include grade sep- aration, such as overpas- ses and underpasses, and road widening projects.

Rogalsky said the idea is to begin at the south end and work their way north. The bypass grade sep- aration project would eliminate the traffic sig- nals on the Highway 240 bypass by shifting traffic over or under intersec- tions, and cost an estimat- ed $132 million. Of all the options weighed in the 2019 study, the bypass work ranked highest by a wide margin. reason why 240 and Aaron is the first place to start is that at the connection to the other major state highways, and is a major bottleneck at that south end of Rogalsky said. you went up to Van Giesen or Stevens, but do anything at Aa- ron, all be doing is making it easier and faster to get to a worse Eventually they also hope to see Highway 240 widened, adding an addi- tional southbound lane from north of Vantage Highway to Interstate 182.

That project would cost about $25 million. The last major project is an extension of Kingsgate Road. The project would see Kingsgate extended south from Highway 240 to Keene Road. It has a cost estimate of $83.4 million. The Kingsgate exten- sion would move about 1,000 vehicles off High- way 240 during rush hour, which is about one-third of the estimated traffic volume in the area during rush hours.

The Kingsgate exten- sion was delayed beyond current 6-year program, so work is not likely to begin until at least the end of this dec- ade. BOB BRAWDY Tri-City Herald Traffic flows through the signal at the intersection of the Highway 240 bypass and Van Giesen Street in Richland. FROM PAGE 1A TRAFFIC.