Re: Sunflower Army Munitions Plant - FOSET

[BPS <kutak_r@ix.netcom.com>]

The clear import of your comment is that the Kansas Department of Health
and Environment is somehow not capable of "independent oversight." I could
not disagree with that strongly enough. There are certainly an abundance
of instances when USEPA has not covered itself with glory. The suggestion
that only a federal agency, headquartered in Washington with regional
feifdoms , is the only way to get independent oversight of any activity
ignores the record of state regulatory oversight and enforcement. EPA does
an okay job in a lot of areas, but it is not necessarily the best agency
for everything. The record of the relationship between EPA and DoD does
not suggest that EPA is always "independent" of DoD's interests.

> It's my understanding that only the Governor (of Kansas) need approve
> the "covenant deferral," or Early Transfer, of the Sunflower Army
> Ammunition Plant. U.S. EPA is not directly involved.
>
> That's because Sunflower is not on the "Superfund" National Priorities
>
> List. Its Hazard Ranking Score is high enough, but listing was
> deferred.
> I do not know the intention of those who kept it off the list, but the
>
> consequence was to deny the citizens of Kansas the promise of
> independent oversight of the transfer.