NAVY CLEANUP POLICY GUIDANCE

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

NAVY POLICY GUIDANCE
On October 26, 1995, the Navy issued a 4-page guidance describing its 
current policies for the environmental restoration at active bases. 
Signed by Assistant Secretary of Navy (Installations and Environment) 
Robert Pirie, Jr., the guidance governs cleanup whether funded through 
the Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA) or a devolved 
Environmental Restoration, Navy (ER,N) account. The policies in the 
guidance are not only consistent with the discussions of the Federal 
Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee; but many of 
them are being implemented before the Committee completes its 
negotiations. (This is not to say that the Committee has agreed or will 
agree, in consensus, to endorse, the entire Navy policy document.)
Here are a few of the highlights:
"We will plan, prioritize and execute the program in open dialogue with 
regulators and public stakeholders, and ensure meaningful involvement 
of affected communities ..."
"The provisions of negotiated legal agreements are both a factor in 
setting project execution priorities through risk management, and a 
tool for formalizing our commitments. The DoN [Department of Navy] 
continues to support the use of negotiated legal agreements as a way of 
setting project milestones. However, new negotiated legal agreements 
must reflect relative risk evaluations and DoN environmental 
restoration funding controls. Simply put, enforceable milestones in 
negotiated legal agreements must fit within budget and FYDP controls. 
All new negotiated legal agreements will include provisions for 
'rolling milestones' established in the light of relative risk and 
budget considerations. Rolling milestones link specific cleanup actions 
to the availability of funds in a given budget year. Only after 
Congressional action do the milestones become enforceable. Milestones 
beyond the budget year are planned, but not enforceable. Existing 
negotiated legal agreements should be revisited with regulatory 
agencies and, if legally possible, amended to reflect funding controls 
and risk management factors."
"Our community stakeholders must be made aware of fiscal realities, and 
as partners, should be involved early in the program development 
process. Restoration Advisory Board members should be involved early in 
formulating installation cleanup programs within established fiscal 
controls, in order that the members may better understand the process 
and the ramifications of changes once the budget is set. Relative risk 
should be used as the primary tool to accommodate any Congressional 
budget reductions. If time permits, DoN officials will consult with 
stakeholders prior to determining which specific projects will be cut. 
When time does not allow stakeholder participation, they will be 
advised as soon as possible on what actions were taken and why they 
were taken. Where budget cuts require renegotiation of work schedules 
or milestones, out year milestones should also be revised to reflect 
realistic projections within available resources."
"Budgets and execution plans should continue to maintain a structure 
that invests at least 60% of the DoN DERA cleanup budget in actual 
cleanups. Additional, 80% of the DoN DERA budget should be invested in 
projects with a high relevant risk. Operation and maintenance of 
in-place remedial systems, such as groundwater pumping and treatment 
systems, should be separately identified from new remedial actions.... 
Identification, characterization, analysis, and design phases should be 
held to 30%. Similarly, management costs should be held to no more than 10%."