HEFLEY PROMISES MORE CUTS

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

KEY SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR WARNS OF CLEANUP CUTS

 Congressman Joel Hefley (R-Colorado), the new chairman 
of the House National Security Subcommittee on Military 
Installations, is warning that Congress is likely to cut military 
base cleanup funds even more deeply this year. In a February 
7, 1995 letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner, Hefley 
"encouraged" EPA to reach a remedy selection agreement at the 
Rocky Mountain Arsenal through negotiation.

 Reading between the lines, it appears that Hefley is 
suggesting that budget imperatives should drive the 
establishment of cleanup goals and remedies, in contradiction 
with recent court cases determining that the state of Colorado 
could establish cleanup requirements for the Army at the 
Arsenal.

 Hefley's subcommittee has tentatively scheduled 
environmental hearings for March 24. In the absence of an 
outcry from states and communities, including his own, 
insisting of adequate cleanup funding, there is no doubt that 
the House will indeed slash the President's already low Defense 
Environmental Restoration Account proposal for FY1996.

 Here is the text of Hefley's letter. Note that he says the 
Arsenal is one of 10,000 sites in the U.S. In fact, it is one of less 
than 1,000 active or closing facilities with contamination. 
(Lenny Siegel)

 February 7, 1995

The Honorable Carol M. Browner
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460

Dear Ms. Browner:

 As the new chairman of the House National Security 
Subcommittee on Military Installations, with jurisdiction for 
environmental cleanup work at Defense Department facilities, I 
feel it is only fair to give you a heads-up on the budget 
prospects for DERA.

 Let me say that I understand your representatives and 
the stakeholders are attempting to reach an agreement on the 
cleanup of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I would encourage you 
to make every effort to reach your objective through 
negotiation. Ongoing disputes, should negotiations fail, will not 
be in anyone's best interests. I know that all of you are 
committed to an effective and expeditious cleanup so that the 
Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge can be fully 
established. I wish you well.

 At the same time, I hope you will keep budget realities in 
mind as these negotiations proceed. It was just a year ago that 
my colleague, Mrs. Schroeder, gave a pessimistic answer to 
Judge Richard W. Dana's question on possible funding for the 
RMA cleanup. Now, as chairman of the Military Installations 
Subcommittee, I have little reason to refute her pessimism. If 
anything, increased commitments to balance the federal budget 
and to military readiness and the enormous potential budget 
impact of environmental cleanup work at federal facilities will 
probably make this year's constraints even more severe. I 
advise you to keep in mind that federal funding for this and 
other Defense Department sites is not unlimited and that the 
Arsenal is just one of over 10,000 [sic] DOD contaminated sites 
in the U.S. We cannot afford any remedies which are not 
entirely cost-effective.

 Last year, Congress cut funding for Defense 
Environmental Restoration activities by almost $200 million. 
This year's budget request will begin $160 million lower than 
last year's actual spending and Congress is likely to impose 
even deeper cuts as it reviews that request. Further, there 
exists in this Congress a belief that the nation's military 
readiness has slipped to a dangerous level and must be 
restored. With that overriding priority driving the budget 
process, environmental cleanup work will have to find its level 
among non-readiness-related items.

 I assure you the subcommittee will follow your efforts 
with interest and that the full committee is determined to 
make fully informed decisions regarding the appropriate pace, 
level and relative priority of environmental cleanup work at 
DOD facilities, including the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I want 
you to know that the chairman of the Defense Appropriations 
Subcommittee shares my concerns about reasonable and 
prudent remediation at this site and others. We will make 
every effort to ensure that each federal dollar spent at the 
Arsenal provides a cost-effective, demonstrable reduction of 
actual - not theoretical - risk to human health and the 
environment.

Sincerely,

Joel Hefley
Member of Congress