clean-ups at US Navy bases, including the one in Bermuda.

OHM Corp. of New Jersey said this week that its contract with the Navy included four option years, bringing the award's potential value to $250 million over five years.

Under the contract, OHM Remediation Services Corp. will clean up contaminated sites at Navy and Marine Corps installations in Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and on the East Coast of the United States.

A Navy Inspector General's report obtained by The Royal Gazette in May said it could cost $33.5 million to clean up hazardous materials at Navy bases in Bermuda alone.

The estimate included the clean-up of asbestos, PCBs, underground storage tanks, and solid wastes, the report said.

But Cdr. Mike Donnelly, the top Public Works officer at NAS Bermuda, downplayed the figure. He said it included the cost of shipping all hazardous materials off the Island and returning the land to pristine condition.

Navy officials also said little of the hazardous waste generated on the Bermuda base was highly toxic. Most was the by-product of light industry such as routine vehicle and aircraft maintenance, construction and repair work, and household products like batteries, paints, and pesticides.

The report acknowledged Defence Department obligations to restore the environment of any base it returned to a home government and to eliminate known risks to health and safety.

Under the new Navy contract, additional sites on the US East Coast and in the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, and Africa may also be designated for clean-up.

OHM's office in Trenton, New Jersey will manage the work, which will begin in September.

Ensign Marie McGahan of NAS Bermuda said she expected work on the East Coast bases would be done before work was done in Bermuda. The date was not known, she said.