Camp Bonneville Congressional Letter

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The following letter was sent by the members of the Congressional
delegation representing Camp Bonneville and the surrounding communities
in the state of Washington:

Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
August 26, 1999

Col. R. Gary Dinsick
US Army Chief BRAC
Dept. of the Army
600 Army Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20310-0600

Dear Col. Dinsick:

It has been brought to our attention by several concerned local
officials and constituents that a serious public safety problem exists
at Camp Bonneville in Washington state, due to the presence of
unexploded ordnance.

Although the general public's access to Camp Bonneville's 3,800 acres
has been restricted, it appears that the fencing is easily crossed and
trespassing occurs regularly. This immediate problem should be addressed
by the Department of the Army before a tragic accident occurs.

The longer-term issue is the condition of the Camp Bonneville property
for possible future use as a park by Clark County. It is our
understanding that clean-up discussions have slowed following rejection
of the Army's two draft feasibility study proposals, to determine what
level clean-up would make the site safe for public use, by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington State
Department of Ecology (WA DOE).

We wrute to urge the Army to make every effort to work with the EPA and
WA DOE to resolve the problems of survey methodology, the extent of
clearance and the depth of excavation needed to remove unexploded
ordnance.

Please advise each of us of the actions the Army will take to move the
discussions with EPA and WA DOE forward. The Army's attention to his
matter is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Slade Gorton, United States Senator
Patty Murray,  United States Senator
Brian Barid, Member of Congress



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
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
http://www.cpeo.org