Re: CONGRESSIONAL LETTER SUPPORTS DERA

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

STUDDS-EHRLICH LETTER

Here is the text of the letter being circulated by Rep. Gerry Studds (D-
Massachusetts) and Rep. Robert Ehrlich, Jr. (R-Maryland) in support of the 
President's budget request for the Defense Environmental Restoration 
Account. They are seeking signatures from other members of Congress 
through June 12. Studds' district contains the Otis Air National Guard 
Base/Camp Edwards and the South Weymouth Naval Air Station. Ehrlich's 
includes the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Community groups and local 
officials have made Defense cleanup a major issue in both districts.

Lenny Siegel

The Honorable C.W. Young, Chairman
Subcommittee on National Security
House Committee on Appropriations
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

We are writing to urge your support of the Administration's budget request 
for environmental cleanup at Department of Defense installations, 
specifically, the $1.6 billion requested for the Defense Environmental 
Restoration Account (DERA) and the $457 million requested for cleanup of 
military facilities slated for closure. Although representing less than one 
percent of the Pentagon's entire budget, these programs are of great 
consequence to communities in our districts.

According to the Pentagon, contaminated sites are located at 1,722 
installations of which 107 are serious enough to warrant inclusion on the 
Superfund National Priority List (NPL). In many cases, the contamination 
represents a real threat to the public health and safety of those living in the 
communities that surround these facilities.

Groundwater contamination, which often threatens local drinking water 
supplies, unexploded ordnance, and chemical warfare materials, are the 
most serious problems and the most expensive to remediate. NPL facilities 
also include hundreds of polluted lagoons, thousands of spill areas and 
disposal areas, contaminated buildings and waste treatment plants, and 
training areas for fire fighting and aircraft accidents. Contaminants requiring 
cleanup include solvents, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, acids, 
explosive chemicals, and pesticides.

We are also concerned about the progress of cleanup of hazardous waste 
sites on installations slated for closure. In many cases, base reuse in an 
important issue. Many of our communities are looking forward to 
redevelopment of these sites, with the potential for the creation of new jobs. 
If cleanup actions are delayed by reductions in DOD funding, transfer of the 
property into local hands will be hindered and local economic recovery 
stalled.

The Department of Defense estimates that overall cleanup costs will exceed 
$30 billion. The Administration's budget request of slightly more than $2 
billion for FY96 represents such a relatively small expenditure in the face of 
the imposing need - and in the context of the entire DOD budget - that an 
appropriation of less than this amount would be unwise, unnecessary and 
unfair to those living in communities affected by contaminated facilities. 
This is particularly true in light of the $300 million rescission in DERA 
funding for FY95.

We disagree with those who want to cut or eliminate funding for defense 
environmental restoration, based on a characterization of this as "non-
defense" spending and outside the Pentagon's "mission." In our view, 
environmental cleanup is a real cost incurred by DOD in pursuance of its 
national security responsibilities, and, like any other kind of overhead cost, 
should be paid for out of its budget.

However, we recognize the reality of budget constraints, and agree with the 
Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office and the General 
Accounting Office that the priority setting process should be improved. We 
support proposals that would target cleanup funds to facilities that pose the 
greatest risk to human health and the environment and those on the base 
closure list that are the most commercially viable.

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.