Army Disbands the Fort Ord RAB

[CPEO <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Department of the Army
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
and Presidio of Monterey
Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944-5006
Office of the Installation Commander

May 12, 1999

Dear Restoration Advisory Board Participant:

I am writing to advise you that the Army has decided to disband the Fort
Ord Restoration Advisory Board (RAB).  The Fort Ord RAB was established in
1994 to provide a forum for the exchange of information and for the Army
to receive timely advice regarding the environmental cleanup of the former
Fort Ord.  Despite the significant efforts of many past and present
members, the Fort Ord RAB has been ineffective in fulfilling these
important responsibilities.

The Army, USEPA Region IX, and California EPA have made many attempts over
the past several to empower the RAB and improve its ability to conduct
effective meetings so that it might better advise the Army, regulating
agencies, and the community.  Since its inception, the RAB has been
provided with the assistance of three neutral facilitation efforts, one by
the Army and two by USEPA.  All of these efforts proved unsuccessful.
During the last five months, with the facilitation of CONCUR, the Army and
regulatory agencies held numerous meetings with the RAB attempting to
improve the situation.  Despite these efforts, minimal progress was made.
Our decision to disband the RAB is supported by the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, Headquarters Department of the Army, and the Base
Realignment and Closure Team (BCT) consisting of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA), California Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC), and California Regional Water Quality Control Board
(CRWQCB).

The Army remains committed to providing the community with a regularly
scheduled forum to present technical information, discuss the
environmental cleanup, and receive comments from the community.  To this
end, the Army and our regulatory partners will hold monthly public
meetings of the Fort Ord cleanup.  The BCT will develop topics and an
agenda for each meeting based on community requests and the progress of
the cleanup.  Community members will be able to comment, ask questions,
and receive information and reports, as well as provide views on other
avenues of community involvement to be used in the future.

The next public meeting in this process is scheduled for the evening of
June 10, 1999.  We will send you information on the meeting location and
agenda at a later date.  We encourage you to continue to participate by
attending this and subsequent meetings, discussing technical issues with
the regulatory agencies and the Army, and providing the BCT with your
comments.  This new forum will provide you and other members of the
community with a better opportunity for dialogue on environmental cleanup
issues at the former Fort Ord.

                              Sincerely,

                              Daniel D. Devlin
                              Colonel, U.S. Army
                              Commander

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