BASE CLOSURE CLEANUP REQUIREMENTS

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

BASE CLOSURE CLEANUP REQUIREMENTS

a fact sheet prepared by Lenny Siegel
SFSU CAREER/PRO and Pacific Studies Center
July 1, 1995

The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission has 
just submitted to the President a list of domestic military bases 
recommended for closure and realignment. At least 36 of those bases, 
including nine on the "Superfund" National Priorities List of the 
nationUs most dangerous properties, contain serious hazardous waste 
contamination. In its latest cleanup report, the Defense Department 
counted more than 900 separate "sites in progress" on those 36 bases. 
(See attached list.)

Nearly a half billion dollars has been spent on investigation and 
cleanup, and before the closure recommendations the Pentagon 
projected an additional $2.3 billion in cleanup costs to complete 
restoration. Experience with previous closures suggests that more sites 
will be uncovered and additional costs will be incurred as property is 
prepared for transfer and reuse.

For nearly all the bases on the new list, cleanup funding through 
fiscal year 1996 will come from the Defense Environmental Restoration 
Account (DERA). In fiscal year 1995, Congress cut and rescinded $700 
million from the President's $2.2 billion request for DERA. This year, 
the House trimmed $200 million from the President's $1.6 billion 
request, and it has proposed that additional DERA funds be available to 
fund military contingencies.

If past practice is followed, in fiscal year 1997 Congress will 
fund BRAC cleanup from a separate account. The House of 
Representatives, however, believes that too much money is being spent 
on BRAC cleanup, and it has proposed converting this yearUs proposed 
$457 million floor for BRAC cleanupQcovering previous closuresQ
into a ceiling. Even before the House passed the Military Construction 
bill containing that change, the PentagonUs blue-ribbon advisory group, 
the Defense Science Board, found that money in the BRAC cleanup 
pipeline is insufficient:

Base Realignments and Closure (BRAC) environmental 
require-ments are of particular concern. In most cases, 
land cannot be transferred to local entities until cleanup 
has occurred. Yet BRAC funding is clearly insufficient. 
The DoD is not now able to meet all of its BRAC-91 
environmental funding requirements and the 
environmental funding for the most recent round of 
proposed closures (BRAC-95) is not included in current 
DoD plans and budgets. Even if the total budget can be 
kept stable, it may not be possible to fund all BRAC 
work in a timely fashion.I

The BRAC Commission list is currently under review by the 
President, and there are rumors that he may reject it unless McClellan 
Air Force Base, the most costly cleanup on the list, is kept open.

MAJOR BASE CLOSURES
Proposed by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, June, 1995
Known Environmental Restoration Requirements

Contaminated Facilities 
# Sites in Progress $ Thru FY 94 $ FY 95-Completion Total $ 

Adak Naval Air Facility, AK 
 76 27,026,000 179,359,000 206,385,000
Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal (Army), NJ 
 39 440,000 614,000 1,054,000
Bergstrom Air Reserve Base*, TX 
 18 42,848,000 19,880,000 62,728,000
Bethesda Naval Medical Research Institute**, MD 
 47 29,056,000 35,302,000 64,358,000
Camp Kilmer (Army), NJ 
 3 0 2,050,000 2,050,000
Charleston Fleet Industrial Supply Center (Navy), SC 
 18 0 0 0
Chicago OUHare Air Reserve Station, IL 
 5 3,279,000 22,100,000 25,379,000
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, CO 
 6 344,000 3,157,000 3,501,000
Fort Buchanan (Army), PR 
 14 0 0 0
Fort Chaffee (Army), AR 
 14 395,000 5,491,000 5,886,000
Fort Holabird (DLA), MD 
 9 304,000 0 304,000
Fort Indiantown Gap (Army), PA 
 10 186,000 10,232,000 10,418,000
Fort McClellan (Army), AL 
 44 3,073,000 123,254,000 126,327,000
Fort Missoula (Army), MT 
 1 74,000 5,668,000 5,742,000
Fort Ritchie (Army), MD 
 4 0 0 0
Fort Totten (Army), NY 
 10 138,000 2,499,000 2,637,000
Guam Naval Ship Repair Facility, GU 
 9 7,229,000 14,253,000 21,482,000
Hingham Annex (Army), MA 
 13 464,000 6,090,000 6,554,000
Kelly Air Force Base, TX 
 35 71,169,000 181,949,000 253,118,000
Long Beach Naval Shipyard, CA 
 6 4,749,000 17,589,000 22,338,000
Louisville Naval Surface Warfare Center, KY 
 1 646,000 8,224,000 8,870,000
McClellan Air Force Base, CA 
 234 151,789,000 705,446,000 857,235,000
Memphis Defense Dist. Depot (DLA), TN 
 76 12,715,000 150,907,000 163,622,000
Oakland Army Base, CA 
 3 0 1,926,000 1,926,000
Oakland Fleet Industrial Supply Center (Navy), CA 
 7 6,237,000 17,580,000 23,817,000
Ogden Defense Distribution Depot (DLA), UT 
 15 32,375,000 16,186,000 48,561,000
Ontario Airport Air Guard Station, CA 
 3 437,000 1,677,000 2,114,000
Pittsburg International Airport Air Reserve Center, PA 
 2 886,000 10,581,000 11,467,000
Reese Air Force Base, TX 
 5 19,815,000 115,352,000 135,167,000
Roslyn Air Guard Station, NY 
 3 751,000 2,671,000 3,422,000
Savanna Army Depot Activity, IL 
 58 31,506,000 197,757,000 229,263,000
Seneca Army Depot, NY 
 35 20,169,000 226,345,000 246,514,000
South Weymouth Naval Air Station, MA 
 9 2,264,000 28,371,000 30,635,000
Sudbury Training Annex (Army)***, MA 
 57 7,394,000 66,674,000 74,068,000
Warminster Naval Air Warfare Center, PA 
 9 4,149,000 104,435,000 108,584,000
White Oak Naval Surface Weapons Center, MD 
 7 5,643,000 11,284,000 16,927,000

 
TOTAL 
 905 487,550,000 2,294,903,000 2,782,453,000

Source: Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report, 
March 31, 1995
Bold denotes bases currently on the "Superfund" National Priorities 
List (NPL). 
DLA = Defense Logistics Agency
Those bases listed with no monetary requirements apparently has 
substantial requirements, but the data is not availableQit is listed as 
zeroQin the DERP Report.
The BRAC Commission defines bases differently than the cleanup 
program. We have attempted to match them as well as possible. We 
have not included realignments, though in past rounds some have 
resulted in the closure of large sections of military bases, since details 
on the realignments are not yet available.

*Bergstrom Air Reserve Base sits on the site of Bergstrom Air Force 
Base, approved for closure in 1991. The cleanup figures here are for 
the entire Bergstrom base.
**Listed in the DERP Report as Bethesda NavMedCom.
***Listed in the DERP Report as Fort Devens, Sudbury Annex