[CPEO-IRF] Defense Department environmental testimony

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Most BRAC '05 Environmental Restoration Remedies in Place

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
August 11, 2005

WASHINGTON ? The Defense Department has identified and provided remedies
for environmental restoration issues associated with most of the
installations on the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list, a senior
DoD official told the BRAC commission today. 

"From a base-reuse perspective the department will enter implementation
of BRAC '05 with a mature restoration program," Philip W. Grone, deputy
undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, told BRAC
committee members at a hearing here. 

Among the installations recommended for closure under this BRAC round
"84 percent of those sites, over 1,000, have remedies in place" that
address environmental restoration issues, Grone said. 

And at installations possessing information on environmental conditions,
"restoration projects are already identified and in various stages of
completion," Grone said, noting that "required funding and goals have
already been established to achieve required environmental actions." 

DoD "has mature relationships" with federal and state regulators and
local communities involved with the 2005 BRAC process, Grone pointed
out. 

"In each of the states where DoD has recommended an installation
closure, the department has signed agreements to engage and financially
support state agencies to assist us in restoration efforts," he said. 

Half of the 180 major and minor installations recommended for closure
under BRAC 2005 contain environmental restoration sites, Grone reported.
Those 90 installations contain more than 1,200 individual restoration
sites, he said, with 6 percent involving military munitions clean-up
sites. 

If implemented, the department's 2005 BRAC recommendations would close
just over 10 percent of today's existing military bases, Grone had said
June 6 at a community redevelopment association meeting in Denver. The
2005 BRAC recommendations propose closing 33 major stateside bases, as
well as 29 major realignments and 775 minor closures and realignments. 

There are 843 environmental restoration sites among the 33 bases
recommended for closure, Grone reported, noting that 78 percent of those
sites "report either response complete or remedy in place." 

The certified estimate for the cost to clean up all the installations
recommended for closure "was approximately $1 billion," Grone noted.
That figure is based on fiscal 2003 data as reported to the BRAC
commission, he said. 

"This figure includes both the cost for traditional clean up as well as
for the military munitions response program," Grone said. 

In this BRAC round DoD wants to quickly transfer BRAC-affiliated
property "by using the full range" of tools available in the public and
private sectors," Grone said. 

DoD is applying knowledge gained from previous BRAC rounds to conduct
more rigorous processes for transferring property within the federal
government, Grone noted. The department will also employ a wider variety
of property disposal methods, integrate environmental clean up and
redevelopment more closely, and share full information on the condition
of property early in the process with all interested parties, he said. 

Grone noted that DoD's environmental strategy for BRAC 2005 consists of
four main elements: 

                 Streamlining the process consistent with existing laws
and regulations; 
                 Making the process more market-oriented by using the
full range of tools available for property transfer; 
                 Leveraging existing environmental assessments available
for each installation to provide critical environmental information
early to all parties for planning purposes; and 
                 Involving DoD components and all interested parties in
early planning. 

"The department will use early transfer authority to the maximum extent
practicable," Grone pointed out, to return property "to productive use
as quickly as possible." 

Early transfer of formerly DoD-owned properties allows "reuse to occur
in advance of the environmental cleanup being completed," Grone
explained. However, such transfers "do not eliminate the department's
responsibility to ensure that all necessary response action will be
taken," he emphasized. 

"And it is a responsibility we take very seriously," Grone concluded.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2005/20050811_2394.html

-- 


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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