Re: BASE CLOSURE: Pease Ruling

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

Currently, the Superfund law - which covers many sites not on the "Superfund"
National Priorities List - is supposed to prevent the transfer of contaminated
Federal property to non-Federal entities, unless, as in the case of groundwater
contamination, the remedy is in place and reuse and cleanup don't interfer
with each other.

At some sites, such as Pease, the armed service has sought to evade that
restriction by making property available on a long-term lease. The receiver
of the property has effective ownership, but cleanup has not taken place.

Thus judge said the a long-term lease is equivalent to a transfer by deed, so
uncleaned property should not be leased (long-term).

It's more complicated, but that's the essence, I think. If you ask a lawyer,
you'll get a much more complicated, tentative response.

Lenny