SENATE APPROPRIATIONS

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

APPARENT LANGUAGE FROM SENATE APPROPRIATORS

I have received some material from what appears to be the mark-up 
on Defense Appropriations by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The committee recommends an appropriation of $1,487 million for 
the Defense Environmental Restoration Account for FY96, down 
from the President's request of $1,622 million.

It also supports public participation, though the language could be 
more flexible:

"FUDS local advisory boards.--The Committee notes that local 
advisory boards have been successful in promoting community 
involvement and providing a better understanding between the 
military services and local communities. The Committee, however, is 
concerned that the process has never been adopted for formerly used 
defense sites [FUDS]. The Committee considers these sites to be of 
equal importance to other environmental remediation sites. The 
Committee has provided an additional $5,000,000 to create local 
advisory boards for FUDS sites. Local advisory boards should be 
established for all FUDS sites where cleanup costs will exceed 
$1,000,000."

I still prefer the FFERDC construct, adopted by DOD in its RAB 
guidance, which calls for RAB where 50 people sign a petition, a 
local government requests it, or the host military components decides 
to do it. The one million dollar threshold would lead to a huge 
number of
RABs where there is minimal interest, and as written it could prevent 
the creation of multi-facility RABs.

Nevertheless, the recognition of the value of community-based 
advisory boards, by this key committee - a committee skeptical of the 
state of cleanup - is extremely welcome.

Lenny