SOMERSET, Pa. — The government has made “substantial progress” in negotiating with seven landowners whose property is needed so the Flight 93 National Memorial can be built by the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.
Some work remains, but agreements in principle have been reached with five landowners, Salazar said, and talks continue with the others.
Salazar spoke briefly after meeting with some of the landowners or their attorneys in Somerset. It was his second visit in the past several weeks to the area near where Flight 93 crashed in 2001.
Salazar said he was optimistic that deals could be reached within several weeks so design work could begin, and without the need for the government to seize the land through eminent domain, in which the courts would determine land values.
“We need to honor the treasured landscapes of America,” Salazar said at the site near Shanksville where the Flight 93 crashed en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco.
