[CPEO-MEF] CPEO/ICMA ISSUES PAPER

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

CPEO/ICMA ISSUES PAPER
Impacts of Privatizing DoD Cleanup of BRAC Bases on
Community Involvement & Stakeholder Participation

ICMA and CPEO are working together to develop an issues paper on the
possible impacts that DoD's efforts to privatize environmental cleanups
of closed or transferring bases may have on community involvement and
stakeholder participation.  By privatization, we mean DoD's efforts to
turn over the management of the cleanup to the transferee (property
recipient), such as the redevelopment agency or private developer.  In
some cases, the transferees might receive a payment from DoD to cover
all or part of the cleanup costs; in others the value of the land is
expected to compensate the transferee.  Usually, insurance polices are
used to manage the financial uncertainties.  Along with early transfer
approval, privatization's goal is to speed reuse and make cleanup more
efficient by coordinating cleanup with dirt moving planned for reuse.
Our focus is how this privatization effort will affect community
involvement and stakeholder participation.

***We WANT your input and feedback, but NEED it by COB on Monday, March
6th, 2000, as we must deliver the issue paper to IDA by March 15th,
2000.***

BACKGROUND:  IDA is the Institute for Defense Analysis, a
not-for-profit, federally-funded research and development center (FFRDC)
that performs work for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the
Defense Agencies and the Joint Staff.  IDA has been charged by DoD's
Office of Environmental Security (Sheri Goodman and Karla Perri) to
gather information and feedback about privatization issues and
alternatives for the transfer of military facilities (BRAC bases).  On
Feb 2nd, IDA convened a meeting of diverse stakeholders (i.e., NGOs,
private sector consultants and developers, community groups, local
governments, etc.).  The group shared their experiences and insights
concerning existing BRAC efforts and possible strategies and impacts
regarding privatization.  After the meeting, IDA selected a few
participants to chair different working groups.  Each group is charged
with delivering a report to IDA.  IDA will incorporate segments of these
reports into a final document and deliver that final document to DoD.
ICMA and CPEO agreed to co-chair the working group on community
involvement.

Given the commitment to meaningful community input by our organizations,
we decided to solicit the input of as many relevant and experienced
stakeholders as possible.  Given the short time we know we won't be able
to contact everyone and we will not be able to cover every issue in
depth.  Despite these physical limitations, we want your feedback ASAP!

YOUR COMMENTS & FEEDBACK: Please provide us your thoughts, observations,
and experiences (let us know what installation you are talking about) in
writing (preferably via e-mail) by the COB on Monday, March 6th, so that
we have sufficient time to synthesize your comments.  Given the wide
dissemination of this message we will not be able to integrate all
comments, but will select a wide range of thoughts and opinions.  We
suggest you organize your thoughts around the following three
questions/areas:

1. Best practices in BRAC community involvement and stakeholder
participation.  What has worked well and what has not.  Any specific
examples (without going into too much depth) or innovative strategies in
community involvement at BRAC bases.  What are the obstacles to
community involvement and stakeholder participation under the current
closure and transfer process?

2. Beyond BRAC.  Any best practices in community involvement and
stakeholder participation that can be borrowed from similar cleanup and
redevelopment areas, such as brownfields?

3. Possible Privatization Impacts: Although we do not know the full
details or scope of DoD's efforts to privatize environmental cleanups at
BRAC bases, we would like your thoughts about the possible impacts and
issues privatization may pose for community involvement and stakeholder
participation.  For example:

**Do you think the transfer of lead cleanup responsibility from DoD will
improve or hinder community involvement in the oversight of the
cleanup?  How?  Any thoughts on how to ensure meaningful stakeholder
participation?  For example, might leasing, as opposed to transfer,
help?

**Should reuse planning (generally under the LRA) and cleanup decisions
(usually made by the BCT with input from the RAB) be better
coordinated?  What are the advantages and impacts for community
involvement?  How could this be done?

**Are the current mechanisms for community involvement and stakeholder
participation in the early transfer process working?  How could they be
enhanced?

We know this is a lot to ask on a complex topic in such a short time.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS.  You can choose the ones that
you think most important.  Please remember that time and space is
limited.  If your response is too lengthy, it will be difficult to
incorporate all of the ideas.  We suggest formatting your response as a
detailed outline and send it to us via e-mail.

Thank you for your input.  Feel free to give any of us a call if you
have any questions or send e-mail.

Joe Schilling, 202-962-3663 (jschilling@icma.org); FAX 202-962-3500 (not
preferred)
Lenny Siegel, 650-961-8918 (lsiegel@cpeo.org)
Aimee Houghton, 202-662-1888 (aimeeh@cpeo.org)
Jacen McMillen, 202-962-3596 (jmcmillen@icma.org).


--
Aim=E9e Houghton
Associate Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
122 C Street, Suite 700, Washington, DC  20001-2109
tel: 202-662-1888; fax: 202-628-1825
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org



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