He came to work at the regional office in Lakeville fresh from Burlington, Vt., where he was director of public works, involved in the cleanup of Lake Champlain. He has since been promoted to undersecretary of environmental affairs. He also insisted that the project manager at the time for the state environmental protection department, James Begley, drop his other assignments and focus almost exclusively on the base. Then, in December 1993, Crombie and Begley came up with a plan. They told the Senior Management Board that they had a way to contain all the plumes migrating off base - and it could be done in 22 months.
Local activists remember that meeting as a watershed moment.
The plan that wouldn't work Daniel Santos, then manager of the base cleanup for the National Guard, said he thought there was enough information about the plumes to move forward on the idea. But the state and Santos, who left the job in 1994, were wrong. Wrong about how long it would take. And wrong about what it would do to the Upper Cape's water table. In fact, the 22 months evaporated as soon as the plan hit paper.