Re: Highlights of DERTF Conference

["Sam Goodhope" <Sam.Goodhope@OAG.STATE.TX.US>]

Reply to Dzweifel (long message, does not necessarily reflect the views
of the Attorney general of the State of Texas):

But what about the cleanups? After spending some years working on
base cleanup and as a member of DERTF since 1991, it is amazing to me
that meetings about cleanup issues still so easily slip into discussions
about economic development projects instead of discussions about how
to ensure compliance with laws designed to protect our citizens or how
to ensure full funding of the BRAC cleanup program. I remain convinced
that we are slowly slipping into a situation where our communities/base
transferees are needlessly taking on risks of funding the cleanups. I am
not saying that the environmental folks at DoD do not want to comply
with the law or clean up the mess left behind by decades of service
neglect, but I am saying that we are all being naive if we believe that the
federal government (the executive and the legislative branches) will
continue to fund cleanups at closing bases without regulators and
communities breathing down its neck in order to force it to honor its
commitments. 
We simply are not far away from the time that the federal regulated
agencies will successfully open the Pandora's box with respect to
cleaning up the environment. Risk-based, non-permanent cleanups
dependent upon, in the first instance, Faustian future land use bargains
between the "boosters" and regulators, and, in the second instance,
institutional controls of gossamer strength, are the Promised Land for
many of the worst private sector offenders of health and safety laws
passed to protect our citizens. In 1991, I would have scoffed at the idea
that the federal government would become the leader in racheting down
protection for our citizens as it leads polluters to their Promised Land. At
that time, there was no question regarding the federal governments
commitment to cleaning up its mess...

Sam Goodhope, Special Assistant Attorney General (still) 512/475-4679.