FUTURE LAND USE POLICY

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>

FUTURE LAND USE CLEANUP POLICY
In September, the Department of Defense (DoD) Environmental Cleanup 
office released a draft policy on "Responsibility for Environmental 
Cleanup due to Changes inLand Use after Transfer." It contains no surprises.
The Cleanup office is accepting comments through October 18. I will 
post my comments at a later time. For more information, contact Shah 
Choudhury at 703/697-7475 (fax: 703/695-4981).
The draft policy builds on a May 25, 1995 EPA directive, "Land Use in 
the CERCLA Remedy Selection Process," as well as general legislative 
and regulatory trends. DOD, like other responsible parties, wants to 
reduce cleanup costs by weakening standards in places where land use 
and other institutional controls can limit public or environmental 
exposure to residual hazardous wastes.
This particular policy focuses on closed and closing bases. It says, 
"The DoD believes that developing future land use assumptions in close 
cooperation with the local community should result in greater community 
support for the remedy selected, quicker and more cost-effective 
cleanups, and earlier return of property for productive reuse."
DoD recognizes that tailoring cleanup to reuse may trigger suspicion in 
many communities. The draft policy notes, "a community can be expected 
to endorse a risk-based remedy that takes future land use into 
consideration and leaves hazardous substances on site at levels that 
would require limited use and restricted exposure, only if it knows 
beforehand the circumstances under which DoD may be willing to return 
to the site to do additional cleanup." Those limitations and 
restrictions, it is assumed, would be built into enforceable deed 
restrictions designed, in light of the remedy selected, to protect 
human health and the environment.
The policy states three general circumstances under which the Defense 
Department will return to do additional cleanup:
1) If the remedy fails.
2) If additional Defense-caused contamination is found.
3) New scientific and health data leads regulatory agencies to tighten 
standards for all responsible parties.
However, the Department warns that it will NOT return to conduct 
additional cleanup required by a change in the use of property to a use 
which is not compatible with the deed restrictions. DOD will cooperate 
with such changes, but the new owner must pay the costs.
Finally, DoD promises, in the draft, to disclose fully any land-use 
based cleanup considerations and decisions to the Restoration Advisory 
Board, Local Reuse Authority, and other agencies.
Lenny Siegel