NETWORK POSITION ON MUNITIONS RULE

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

Position on EPA'S Proposed Munitions Rule
MTP Conventional Munitions Network - December 3, 1995

General

1. THE TREATMENT, STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND 
DISPOSAL OF MUNITIONS WASTES AND WASTE 
MUNITIONS MUST BE SUBJECT TO EXTERNAL 
OVERSIGHT.

While in some cases it may make sense to adopt standards that have 
been developed by the military, changes in those standards, as well 
as their enforcement, should be carried out by agencies whose 
principal mission is to protect public health and the environment. It 
should be recognized that regulation, in itself, does not mandate any 
particular cleanup or waste management standard or expenditure, but 
it subjects the military to the same type of process faced by all other 
polluters, including requirements for information dissemination and 
public participation and the right of legal redress.

2. STATES MUST RETAIN THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND 
ENFORCE MORE STRINGENT REQUIREMENTS THAN 
THOSE ADOPTED NATIONALLY.

This practice, common in the regulation of pollution by private 
entities with national impact - such as the auto industry - has made it 
possible for states with particularly severe vulnerability to drive 
environment technology forward.

3. THE MILITARY MUST DISCLOSE ALL INFORMATION ON 
HAZARDS POSED BY MUNITIONS WASTE IN A TIMELY 
MANNER.

Neighboring communities must be made aware of impending 
hazards, such as range fires and chemical munitions detonations, and 
they should be informed about any chemicals to which they are 
exposed. Hazardous munitions areas should be fenced and well 
posted.

Impact Ranges

4. UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE AND EXPLOSIVES WASTES 
ON CLOSED IMPACT RANGES MUST BE SUBJECT TO 
REGULATION AS HAZARDOUS WASTE.

Decisions about whether, when, and how to remove, reduce, or 
contain the risks caused by range munitions should no longer be 
unilaterally made by the military. There is no reason that this 
oversight should expire when the Defense Department develops its 
own policies.

5. INACTIVE RANGES MUST BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME 
REGULATION AS CLOSED RANGES.

Otherwise, the military will continue to hold onto contaminated 
property - or even to repossess it - to avoid regulation and the 
potential cost of cleanup.

6. ACTIVE RANGES MUST BE SUBJECT TO EXTERNAL 
REGULATION.

Such regulation should encourage pollution prevention, minimizing 
direct impacts on the neighboring human population and the 
environment, including surface waters, as well as the long-term cost 
of cleanup. Munitions-contaminated off-range areas and buffer zones 
should be evaluated for cleanup.

TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL

7. ALL ROUTINE (NON-EMERGENCY) OPEN BURNING, 
OPEN DETONATION, AND INCINERATION OF 
CONVENTIONAL AND CHEMICAL MUNITIONS MUST BE 
DISCONTINUED.

These practices release toxic pollutants to the air, soil, and surface 
and groundwater. Open detonation as part of range clearance is 
frequently hazardous, and it should be considered only when re-
moval is more hazardous.

8. MUNITIONS MUST BE DECLARED A WASTE BEFORE 
SHIPPING TO PREVENT THE MILITARY FROM AVOIDING 
REGULATION BY PRETENDING THAT THE WASTE IS 
GENERATED AT THE DISPOSAL SITE..

The armed services have used this semantic device systematically to 
avoid regulation by the states and communities receiving the wastes. 
To ensure compliance, the military should provide an audit trail, 
identifying at each stage or location whether any excess or obsolete 
munition is considered a waste.

9. THE TRAINING OF TROOPS IN MUNITIONS DISPOSAL, 
WHETHER IT BE FOR ORDNANCE SPECIALISTS OR FIELD 
ARTILLERY, MUST BE REGULATED.

Effective training in the use, handling, and disposal of munitions 
need not and must not endanger public health and the environment.

CHEMICAL MUNITIONS

10. NON-STOCKPILE CHEMICAL MUNITIONS MUST BE 
REGULATED AS A WASTE AT ALL TIMES.

These items are particularly hazardous - lethal, in fact - so regulators 
should oversee their range management and removal, storage, 
transportation, treatment, and disposal. For this purpose, unitary 
chemical munitions should properly be considered part of the 
stockpile.

11. NOTHING IN THE RULE SHOULD RESTRICT THE 
ABILITY OF STATES OR LOCALITIES TO IMPOSE 
CONDITIONS ON CHEMICAL WEAPONS 
DEMILITARIZATION.

Communities are proposing cheaper, safer, faster, better alternatives 
to incineration, but the Defense Department is trying to use the rule to 
limit state restrictions on incineration.

BEYOND THE RULE

12. THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AND THE ARMED 
SERVICES MUST COMMIT TO AN OPEN NATIONAL 
DIALOGUE WITH ALL STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING 
MEMBERS OF AFFECTED COMMUNITIES, ON IMPACT 
RANGE MANAGEMENT AND THE TREATMENT, STORAGE, 
TRANSPORTATION, AND DISPOSAL OF MUNITIONS 
WASTES.

In the cleanup of industrial wastes, the military has found that the 
public is willing to play a constructive role through Restoration 
Advisory Boards and other forms of environmental partnership. 
While people want to protect their families, their homes, and their 
environment, they don't want to "break the bank." In no way, 
however, should such a public dialogue supersede the authority of 
the EPA and the states to regulate any aspect of munitions wastes.

13. THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT MUST ESTABLISH, 
ENLARGE, OR IMPROVE PROGRAMS TO CONDUCT 
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON MUNITIONS WASTE 
INVESTIGATION, REMEDIATION, AND DISPOSAL, TO 
TRAIN PERSONNEL TO CONDUCT MUNITIONS CLEANUP, 
AND TO INFORM AND INVOLVE THE AFFECTED PUBLIC ON 
MUNITIONS ISSUES.

The way to reduce the cost and potential impracticality of munitions 
waste regulation is to directly address those problems, not forego 
reasonable oversight. The Defense Department's recently established 
program for involving the public in the oversight of cleanup, 
including the formation of Restoration Advisory Boards, should be 
broadened to include clearly the oversight of range restoration and 
management.