[CPEO-MEF] Court ruling likely to delay Ft. Ord clearance

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

On March 13, 2001, a California court denied the Monterey Bay Unified
Air Pollution Control District's motion to enjoin prescribed burns,
planned by the Army to enable ordnance clearance (and renew the maritime
chaparral habitat) at the former Fort Ord. Its ruling, however, was
based upon a finding that the ordnance clearing project is a remedial
action, not a removal action. As a result, the Army apparently plans to
reviewing the burning proposal as part of a Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study process. This could delay most, if not
all, of the planned ordnance removal for a year or two.

The Army is somewhat responsible for the delay. For years, by conducting
long-term ordnance clearance as a removal action, it shortcutted the
remedial decision-making process, which is designed to force officials
to weigh criteria that could lead to variant decisions. Second, by
letting fires get away, it stirred local opposition to deliberate burning.

However, even if the Army had not made mistakes, the current conflict
would still be there. Competing agencies, implementing competing
statutes, are pursuing competing goals: the preservation and enhances of
natural habitat, the protection of public safety, the protection of
public health, and the protection of worker safety.

The new process is unlikely to come up with solutions that satisfy all
parties, but it's my hope that the Army and the various environmental
agencies will consider proposals that go beyond "one size fits all." For
example, even if they find that the endangered species act requires the
burning of vegetation in some areas, they should still consider other
approaches in other areas slated for clearance.

The Ft. Ord gridlock also highlights the need for improved ordnance
detection technologies. If helicopter-mounted devices could reliably
identify ordnance on or even below the surface of vegetated areas, shrub
clearance would not be the automatic first step in ordnance response.

I only have sketchy information on the court ruling and its
consequences. I invite people who know more to clarify exactly what's happening.

Lenny Siegel




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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

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