[CPEO-IRF] Skaggs Island (CA)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Skaggs Island is a non-BRAC Navy closure in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

The last paragraph in the excerpt below confuses me. I am unaware of any
federal law that would require the Fish and Wildlife Service, or any
other federal agency, to assume the Navy's cleanup liability if it
accepts the property. I would like to hear from someone who knows of
such a statute.

Rather, federal agencies are supposed to address environmental liability
in an agreement that they negotiate at the time of transfer. the Service
and other Interior Department agencies have a policy against accepting
contaminated excess Defense property under the terms offered by the
military services - unless, of course, Congress requires them to.

The only legal difference between a transfer to Fish and Wildlife and a
transfer to the state, that I can think of, is that the Navy and the
regulatory agencies must find the property suitable for transfer or for
early transfer before turning it over to a non-federal entity such as
California Fish and Game, and there is no such requirement for
intra-federal transfers.

LS

***

Skaggs Island puzzle fitting together

By Emily Setzer 
Sonoma Index-Tribune (CA)
July 15, 2005

For tidal restoration around the North Bay, the addition of Skaggs
Island to the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge is the final piece
to the puzzling legalities regarding the transfer of the land to a
federal or state agency.

"A lot of groups in the Bay Area want to see this land protected, and
we're slowly finding the appropriate agency to manage it and work
through the legal issues," said Christy Smith, manager of the San Pablo
Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

The Navy currently owns the 4,400-acre island, which contains an
abandoned Navy communications station and an 1,100-acre hay farm leased
to the Haire family.

The inclusion of the island would increase the refuge's size from 13,190
to 16,490 acres.

The original plan called for the Navy to transfer the land to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the bordering San Pablo Bay
National Wildlife Refuge.

However, the Navy insisted that if the land were transferred to another
federal agency, such as the Wildlife Service, federal laws would require
the service to be responsible for any future discovery of contaminants
or necessary environmental cleanup.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.sonomanews.com/articles/2005/07/15/news/top_stories/news04.txt

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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