Re: Military's Attitude Towards Environmental Cleanup

[LocInc@aol.com]

In response to Paul Zanis, and others on the CareerPro list,

Paul wrote: "I don't know where you get your info but no progress has been
made at the mmr only alot of money spent. We have a bad situation getting
worse."

I worked for Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., for 3 years managing a program with Martin
Marietta Energy Systems Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program (HAZWRAP) to
accomplish "work for others," primarily DoD clients. HAZWRAP managed the
work (too much management at too much expense) and M&E accomplished it.

We were one of several environmental firms doing work at MMR. One of my
project managers in the Boston office (now working for the Mass. regulators)
convinced MMR to close out some 200 sumps (this was several years ago and I
forget the exact number) and clean-up adjacent soils contaminated with
petroleum products using the type of "screen as you dig" technique commonly
employed in underground storage tank projects for gas stations. This
approach probably saved MMR a couple million dollars that they had planned to
spend for a Remedial Investigation approach to the problem. M&E could have
gone along with the original approach and reaped huge profits, but the team
was really interested in getting the work done in the fastest most
cost-effective manner.

One of the biggest problems with cleaning up contamination at military bases
is that regulatory restrictions and guidance, plus government contracting
regulations, often force entities to spend their money doing much more
characterization than necessary or to assume a fixed amount of cleanup to be
accomplished so a fixed price can be placed on it (often a lousy assumption
that later can't be easily modified). If you can begin to overcome these
institutional hurdles and move towards presumed remedies, design-build
projects, interim actions, and other quick & easy solutions, cleanups will
become cheaper, and ultimately more effective because they are initiated
sooner and the money saved will go further.

Susan Gawarecki, Executive Director
ORR Local Oversight Committee