More on NABER

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

I am pleased by the discussion about the proposed National
Advisory Board on Environmental Restoration (NABER). We are very
much open to suggestions for revising the proposal. The hard
part, as we see it, will be to get federal agencies to recognize
that the benefits of such a body would outweigh the costs and
risks.

Col. Wright is right. The Keystone-facilitated National Dialogue
on Military Munitions, of which I am a member, is a good example
of the type of body that I envision. Thus far, its meetings have
been get-acquainted sessions, and at our last meeting we could
not directly discuss the Draft Range Rule because the public
comment period has closed. Still, I hope the group will
eventually develop consensus recommendations in areas such as
research on toxic releases from munitions, sustainable range
management, and pollution prevention strategies based upon
life-cycle analysis. At our next meeting we will discuss range
remediation, but I don't think the overlap between the munitions
group and NABER, as Aimee and I have proposed it, would be
significant.

The recent Dialogue meeting showed how I believe NABER would
address site-specific issues. Participants from various
constituencies raised site-specific problems, but the board did
not address them directly. As examples, they informed the
broader discussion, but any follow up took place "off line."

When I was first invited to what became the Federal Facilities
Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee (FFERDC) several
years ago, there were few community activists around the country
who were focused on military base cleanup. Today, the thousands
of RAB members provide an enormous resource from which to draw
NABER's members.

Finally, I wish to give credit where it's due. Sam Goodhope
originally proposed NABER at FFERDC discussions, at least three
years ago, and maybe earlier.

Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO (and Pacific Studies Center)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org