Cleanup money released.

Byline: Lisa D. Welsh

WORCESTER - The Federal Emergency Management Agency released $3 million yesterday that will help pay for the removal of wood that has been lining streets like a bonfire waiting to happen and other costs associated with the Dec. 11-12 ice storm.

This brings the total reimbursement in the seven-county region affected by the storm to $5 million, but that's far short of what the total will be when all is said and done.

"This $5 million milestone represents approximately 10 percent of the total aid we anticipate to be requested," said Mark H. Landry, FEMA federal coordinating officer.

FEMA reimburses up to 75 percent of cleanup and other costs, and a bill in the state Legislature would have the state reimburse the remaining 25 percent. Before the 2008 ice storm, the most recent federal state of emergency in Massachusetts was caused by snow in 1996 and the state covered 12.5 percent of that storm's costs, leaving municipalities to cover 12.5 percent. Regional legislators said that would be too much this time around for cities and towns to absorb.

"Some small communities consumed half of their annual budget cleaning up the December storm. That's a dramatic amount, and it is critical to get the state to help us," said state Rep. Lewis G. Evangelidis, R-Holden.

State Rep. Robert L. Rice Jr., D-Gardner, pointed out that when House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he pledged his support to have the state pick up the local costs of the storm.

"We hope in the near future to determine what the 25 percent amount translates into a dollar amount that we can insert into our bill to make sure that our communities are reimbursed for their extraordinary expenses of this once-in-a-lifetime event," Mr. Rice said.

Behaving like the proverbial guest who arrives early, stays late and leaves a big mess behind, the storm still has people talking and has left cities, towns and their residents with a lot more work to do.

"As far as state of emergencies go, this storm was unique in that there was not a lot of structural damage but there was critical economic damage," said FEMA spokeswoman Suzanne C. Novak.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was assigned the task of doing street-level and aerial scopes to establish how much debris exists. FEMA has set a guideline of $20 per cubic yard of debris as the maximum cost for cleaning up the mess.

If there is more debris than was estimated, FEMA will consider post-cleanup receipts.

"The cleanup isn't a short process," said Peter W. Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. "It will take months, and MEMA will be around working with the communities as those long-term projects play out."

Impassable roads were cleared in the immediate aftermath of the storm, but wood has been blocking sidewalks and in some places has been piled as high as 20 feet.

"At the onset of the storm, we were focused on getting the roads cleared first and hired many contractors to help town forces move the wood," said Gary Kellaher, Rutland superintendent of public works. "We made three piles that were strategically placed in different parts of town so that they were easily accessible for people to drop their wood off. And they've just grown."

More than 150,000 cubic yards of debris have already been removed from more than 200 miles of Worcester roads, and another sweep is scheduled for the spring to remove an estimated 83,722 cubic yards more.

Rutland is estimated to have 48,280 cubic yards to remove; Holden, 32,590, and Fitchburg, 14,924. Boylston reports it has 14,080 cubic yards and Paxton, 88,404.

Compounding the process in Worcester, Holden, West Boylston, Boylston and Shrewsbury are the special conditions for removing debris from the Asian longhorned beetle quarantine area.

"Moving wood around without proper destruction, that's the scariest thing," said Jeff Daley, senior policy analyst for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Tuesday, the DCR issued memorandums of understanding to towns in the quarantine area detailing the removal process.

Brian J. Bullock, Holden town manager, said Holden's memorandum "lacks some of the specificity that we had talked about with the DCR, and that's being reviewed by the town now. If we get an agreement that we can live with, we're talking about removing the debris in something like 30 days from now and as late as May 1."

Contact Lisa Welsh by e-mail at [e-mail].