PRE-EMPTION DROPPED

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>

MUNITIONS PRE-EMPTION DROPPED
Defense Environmental Alert is reporting that the Defense Department is 
withdrawing its insistence that states not be allowed to impose more 
stringent standards than EPA's national standards in their regulation 
of munitions waste. This "pre-emption" proposal, which was included as 
an option in EPA's Draft Munitions Rule late last year, was opposed 
strongly by state regulators and community-based environmental organizations.
However, Defense is still moving ahead with its plans for a Range Rule, 
in which the military would have the final say on cleanup issues at 
former munitions ranges, on the assumption that the EPA Munitions Rule 
will "sunset" its provisions on range cleanup as soon as Defense puts 
its own into effect.
Lenny Siegel