Deadline set for 9/11 memorial talks
SOMERSET, Pa. - The federal government will negotiate with landowners for one week in an attempt to get the property needed to build a Flight 93 memorial without using eminent domain, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said yesterday.
But if no agreement is reached by June 12, the government will seize the land.
The announcement was made after Salazar and Senator Arlen Specter met with the owners of 500 acres where the hijacked flight crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. The meeting occurred a month after the National Park Service announced that talks to get the remaining land for the memorial were unsuccessful and that they would use eminent domain.
"After meeting with the landowners and the Park Service today, I have high hopes that the parties are close to agreement," Salazar said.
He said the government has a "moral obligation" to complete the $58 million, 2,200-acre memorial by the 10-year anniversary. Landowners will receive fair-market value, he said.
The flight was en route from Newark to San Francisco. The 40 passengers and crew killed have been recognized as heroes. 