A state panel on Thursday approved allocating up to $1 million in federal stimulus funds to clean up contaminated underground storage tanks on the Chrysler Kenosha Engine Plant property.

The funds are part of a nearly $6.4 million pot of money the state received last year for remediating underground tank sites.

Some three to four dozen tanks are believed to be buried on the 109-acre Chrysler property, 5555 30th Ave., Mayor Keith Bosman said. The total cleanup of the site is estimated to fall between $30 million and $50 million, Bosman said.

“This will give us a good start in assessing, getting a better handle on the situation on that site,” Bosman said, of the $1 million award.

The funding can be used to determine the existence and extent of contamination, cleanup and the oversight of cleanup, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis. Tank removal would only occur if deemed a necessary part of the cleanup.

Chrysler announced last year, as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, that it planned to close the Kenosha plant by the end of 2010. Local officials then sought to woo the reconstituted Chrysler-Fiat partnership to continue manufacturing on the site.

State Sen. Robert Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie, said cleaning up the property is important before redevelopment can occur there, be it by Chrysler or other entities.

Wirch said he had mixed feelings about the tank cleanup award, as other local parties were denied requests for the funds, but he was happy that the Chrysler property could receive aid.

“This helps the taxpayers because you can’t go after Chrysler,” Wirch said. “They’re in bankruptcy.”

Going after Chrysler to foot the cleanup was a question that arose during the Joint Finance Committee’s Thursday deliberations.

The committee voted 11-3 in support of the award, with a bipartisan trio opposing it.

According to online news service WisPolitics, Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, one of the dissenters, said Chrysler previously “got U.S. money and then took jobs to Mexico. Enough.”

Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, supported sending the money to Kenosha. He noted that the money is going to the city, not the company.

“You don’t want these places sitting idle,” Mason said in a telephone interview. “You want to redevelop them and get them ready for new opportunities as soon as you can.”

Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, released a statement, praising the award.

“This cleanup project is important to the redevelopment of the engine plant site and will make the location more attractive to other manufacturing businesses interested in settling in the area,” Barca said. “I am pleased that cleanup efforts can begin as soon as possible, now that the funding has been secured.”