Homeowners asked U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith and Congressman Greg Walden, both Republicans, to send the letter to the EPA, said Angela Wilhelms, a spokeswoman for Walden.

The $250,000 would cover the cost of maintaining the North Ridge Estate homes and their yards while residents vacate the area. During that time, the EPA would study, and possibly clean up asbestos-containing material in the ground. The homes would be vacant during that process and, depending on the outcome of the EPA's work, could be sold afterwards.

Despite several years of cleanup activities, the EPA has said that it doesn't yet know how extensive a full cleanup might be.

Settlement talks among the subdivision's developers and residents, as well as the federal government and other interests, hinge on establishing what's been called "the liquidating entity."

The nonprofit corporation would hold the title to 20 North Ridge Estate homes and maintain them after the owners are bought out as part of an agreement to settle a lawsuit against the developers.

In the letter to the EPA, Smith and Walden say that paying now would avoid larger future costs, perhaps in the range of $10 million.

If the settlement is signed and the money for the liquidating entity is in place, the homeowners would move out by June 1.

Scattered throughout and under the 52-acre subdivision about three miles northeast of Klamath Falls on Old Fort Road is building debris from World War II-era Marine barracks.

MBK Partnership of Klamath Falls, founded by Melvin Stewart, Dr. Kenneth Tuttle and Maurice Bercot, who left the company in 1989, bought the site in 1977 and developed the subdivision.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)