[CPEO-IRF] Fed-to-Fed transfers

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Recent articles on Moffett Field's Hangar One and Skaggs Island
highlight the confusion surrounding the transfer of property from the
Defense Department to other federal agencies. Though the Interior
Department - particularly the Fish and Wildlife Service - has received
some of the largest, highest profile tracts, other property has gone to
NASA, the Bureau of Prisons, and even EPA. (Some of these transfers
pre-date the BRAC law.) If the Air Force successfully "closes" Otis Air
National Guard Base, in Massachusetts, there's a good chance that the
Coast Guard will take over the airfield there.

Under federal property disposal law, federal agencies are given the
first opportunity to request excess federal property. Reports from the
Pentagon suggest that this remains the case, but for BRAC 2005 bases the
Defense Department will shorten the amount of time the other federal
agencies will have to put in their bids. That is, they will be given a
"take it or leave it" choice, so the military will be able to act
quickly to put unwanted parcels on the market.

This problematic approach is particularly challenging when environmental
liability is considered. That is, the other agencies would be foolish to
absorb contaminated Defense property without carefully negotiated
re-assurances that the responsible armed service will remain responsible
for known contamination, military-caused contamination discovered in the
future, and cleanup requirements generated by new property uses.

It's debatable whether it's fair for the military to hand-off liability
along with free property, some of which remains valuable. But it's
pretty clear that few other federal agencies have the budgets to respond
to military contamination themselves. 

It's essential, to protect the people who will use former military
property - be they tourists, students, Coast Guard personnel, or even
federal prisoners - that the liability issues associated with federal
transfer be resolved before federal agencies are given the
take-it-or-leave-it choice for BRAC 2005.

Lenny Siegel

-- 


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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