Re: [CPEO-IRF] Skaggs Island (CA)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Submitted by Saul Bloom <saulbloom@arcecology.org>

Lenny:

Good question. As you know there has been a damaging dust-up between the
Navy and Fish and Wildlife that has all but killed the planned refuges
at Alameda Point, Mare Island, Skaggs and elsewhere around the state and
country. Like you, we know of no statutory authority that permits the
Navy's current policy of refusing to honor the CERCLA covenant of
returning to remediate unknown contaminants found after property
transfer to a fellow federal agency. Nevertheless the budget busting
potential of the Navy's refusal to honor the covenant has Fish and
Wildlife refusing to accept the transfer of the liability and therefore
turning its back on the planned and potential refuges on former military
facilities. Consequently much of the public/ environmental good the
preservation of these properties as refuges would provide has been
undermined. Like you Arc Ecology would like to know if there is any
statutory support that can be cited to justify the Navy's policy.

Saul Bloom



Lenny Siegel wrote:
> 
> 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
> _______________________________________________
> Installation_Reuse_Forum mailing list
> Installation_Reuse_Forum@list.cpeo.org
> http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/installation_reuse_forum

-- 


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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