EPA HQ UPHOLDS REGION I DECISION

["Richard Hugus" <rhugus@cape.com>]

>Date: May 17, 1997
>To Military Toxics Community Activists
>From MMR Alliance for Base Cleanup/ Otis Conversion Project--Cape Cod, Mass.

On May 16 EPA headquarters in Washington upheld an order by EPA Region 1
administrator John DeVillars for an end to all types of gun firing and
pyrotechnics at the Massachusetts Military Reservation impact area. This
decision effectively denied a vigorous appeal by the Pentagon which claimed
that its activities were safe. RDX, TNT, DNT, HMX, and herbicides have
already been found in the soil and groundwater beneath the 2,200 acre
impact area, which is as cratered and absent of life as the surface of the
moon. Contaminants from other parts of the Massachusetts Military
Reservation have already polluted water supplies in each of the four town
surrounding it. The Pentagon, fearing a national precedent, may appeal now
to the Justice Department, but the EPA order, and the upholding of that
order by Carol Browner, may be considered a victory for all communities
fighting toxics from U.S. military bases, particulary from impact areas.

Richard Hugus
Otis Conversion Project