CONGRESSIONAL LETTER SUPPORTS DERA

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

At last Defense cleanup appears to have some 
Congressional champions again - that is, members who 
have decided to make cleanup funding an issue.

Rep. Gerry E. Studds (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. Robert 
L. Ehrlich, Jr. (R-Maryland) are circulating a "Dear 
Colleague" letter seeking co-signers for a letter to the 
House Appropriations Committee, calling for funding 
military cleanup accounts at the level requested by the 
Clinton Administration.

I will try to have the longer letter to the Appropriators 
posted soon. For now, here is the concluding paragraph:

"The DOD budget for environmental restoration is a fiscally 
realistic effort to assure progress in the cleanup of 
contamination at military installations. We urge you to 
fund the program at no less than the requested level."

Below is the Dear Colleague letter:

Lenny Siegel

Dear Colleague:

We are writing to invite you to co-sign letters to the 
Appropriations Committee in support of the 
Administration's FY96 budget request for Department of 
Defense environmental restoration programs. The Pentagon 
has asked for $1.6 billion for the Defense Environmental 
Restoration Account for cleanup at active installations and 
$457 million for cleanup of military facilities slated for 
closure. Attached [not here] is a list of these installations, 
which includes at least one located in or near your district.

As you probably know, the DOD rescissions bill cut $300 
million from DERA, delaying cleanup activities at facilities 
all over the country. In many cases, cleanup plans 
intended to address public health concerns - such as 
contamination threats to public drinking water supplies - 
will be put off. If FY96 funding is reduced beyond this, 
further delays are inevitable.

[Members of Congress seeking more information or wishing 
to co-sign the letter are asked to call Eileen O'Brien at 
202/225-3111.]