** ACTION ALERT ** Rep. Underwood Letter **

[Nick Morgan <nmorgan@igc.org>]

Posting from "Nick Morgan" <nmorgan>
Subject: ** ACTION ALERT ** Rep. Underwood Letter **

**** ACTION ALERT ****
**** TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FUNDING AT STAKE ****
**** PLEASE ACT NOW ****

Dear Friends,

THE SURVIVAL OF THE INDEPENDENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR 
COMMUNITY MEMBERS OF RESTORATION ADVISORY BOARDS DEPENDS UPON YOUR PROMPT ACTION.

PLEASE ASK YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO SIGN THE "DEAR COLLEAGUE" 
LETTER BEING CIRCULATED BY CONGRESSMAN ROBERT UNDERWOOD (D-GUAM). YOUR MEMBER SHOULD SIGN BEFORE LABOR DAY - SIGN-ONS AT A LATER DATE 
ARE WELCOME, BUT MAY BE LESS EFFECTIVE. 

The Senate version of the Defense Authorization Act contains language 
that places severe limitations on the support that the Defense Department can provide to RAB members. If passed, it would force t
he Pentagon to go back to square one in the drafting of regulations 
for RAB assistance. It would also limit RAB support - including administrative expenses as well as technical aid - to $4 million in
 fiscal year 1996, a level that the military itself says may not be 
adequate to meet the administrative costs of the over 200 RABs now in existence.

Congressman Underwood is taking leadership in defense of the 
amendment that he sponsored - and which passed without objection - in the FY95 Defense Authorization Act. He is circulating the attached "
Dear Colleague" letter asking House conferees to reject the Senate 
provisions.

RAB members - and everyone else who supports public participation in 
Federal facilities cleanup oversight - should urge, as soon as possible, their Congressional representatives to sign the Underwood
 letter. Write, fax, E-mail, or meet in person with your Member 
before Labor Day. Rep. Underwood's letter will be finalized around Labor Day, when Congress returns from break - so now is the time to
 get your Member to sign on.

* Even if your representative is not an "environmentalist," press the 
issue. Public participation is not just a "green" issue. If you don't get a response, keep the pressure on. If he or she says "No
," make sure the response makes the public record.

* If your member is already friendly, still insist upon a commitment. 
Members of Congress who already care about these issues are currently fighting on many fronts. They need to know that this very s
mall piece of the Defense budget is important to our communities.

* After Labor Day, join other supporters of RAB technical assistance 
in directly contacting both House and Senate members of the Defense Authorization Conference Committee. The Conference Committee w
ill include senior members, from both parties, of the House National 
Security Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee. We'll let you know as soon as they're selected. There will not be much
 time.

We will be asking 1) That the Defense Department effort to implement 
the Underwood-Kohl Amendment (Herb Kohl is a Democratic Senator from Wisconsin) not be impeded, and 2) That funds for RAB technica
l assistance remain at $7.5 million per year..

* Please get back - with a report on your Member's response - to:
Nick Morgan,
on behalf on the Military Toxics Project, at 
510/528-2885/6fax
nmorgan@igc.org
so at I can track and report back on progress with this effort.

**** Congressman Robert Underwood's Dear Colleague Letter ****

The following is a "Dear Colleague" letter being circulated by the 
office of Congressman Robert Underwood (D-Guam). Sometime around Labor Day, after other members of Congress have signed, it will be
 sent to the House members of the Department of Defense (DoD) 
Authorization Act conference committee.

August --, 1995

Dear Congressman ---,

 We are writing to raise our serious concern about a provision in the 
Senate-passed FY96 DoD Authorization bill which would undermine the functioning of Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs), and to req
uest that you assist in correcting this matter in conference.

 As you may know, the FY95 DoD Authorization bill included a 
provision which authorized $7.5 million in technical assistance for RABs. The concept of independent technical assistance at Defense clean
up sites originated in the recommendations of the Federal Facilities 
Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee, an advisory committee made up of federal agencies, state representatives, Native Ame
rican Indian tribes and representatives of affected communities.

 Technical assistance for RABs ensures that local communities have 
the understanding of highly technical information to make informed and independent recommendations about clean-up. Informed public p
articipation contributes to more timely and efficient cleanup, as 
well as increased community acceptance.

 Provisions in the Senate-passed bill would derail and delay DoD's 
good faith effort to implement the technical assistance program authorized in the FY95 DoD Authorization bill and as published in th
e May 24, 1995 Federal Register notice. As written, the Senate 
language would preclude some of the options for service delivery proposed by the Department.

 The Senate language combines RAB administrative expenses and 
technical support into one line item, even though DoD says that the $4 million allocated in the Senate bill may not cover administrative 
costs at the more than two hundred facilities where RABs are already 
in place. Restoring the amount to $7.5 million, the amount in last year's bill for technical assistance, would cost about three th
ousandth of one percent of the Defense budget but it would greatly 
amplify the effectiveness of the cleanup process

 Support of technical assistance for RABs crosses ideological lines. 
More than two hundred RABs are already functioning at active, closing and former bases. RAB members, drawn from neighboring commun
ities, military employees, and even military personnel, represent a 
wide range of political and ideological views.

 We ask that the conferees restore the original $7.5 million in 
funding for RABs and approve language that not only guarantees their continued operation but which ensures that all such boards in need
 of independent technical assistance have access to a process that 
can provide it.

Sincerely,