[CPEO-MEF] Blumenhauer Addresses House on UXO

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

Special Order on Earth Day
[The following are comments (known as Special Order) made by Rep.
Blumenhauer in the House of Representatives.  --Aimee]

U.S. House of Representatives
April 24, 2001

Mr. BLUMENAUER. I thank the gentleman, Madam Speaker. 

I was particularly taken by a comment the gentleman made about the
opportunities to build the environment, to create jobs, to build the
economy; that these are things that can be done concurrently and actually
add value, being able to help make our families safe, healthy, and
economically secure. 

I had an opportunity this last week to tour a location where actually
what the gentleman is talking about could have a tremendous effect. In
the metropolitan Portland area, across the river, it is not in my
district or in my State but it is a very short journey, there is a large
formerly-used defense facility called Camp Bonneville, 3,800 acres that
has been used for the better part of this last century for military
purposes. 

The community has a plan where they would like to take this area that has
been off limits, that has not been subjected to development. It has a
potential for wildlife, for recreation, that is almost unsurpassed, just
a few minutes from the core of a major metropolitan area, but it is going
to require that the Department of Defense step up and provide the
resources to decontaminate the area. 

We do not know what is on the 3,800 acres. There is not money budgeted,
although we recently had a reversal of a decision by the Department of
Defense to go in and help us with that survey. It is critical that we
examine areas like this. 

When they first went in, there were 105-millimeter shells on the ground
that they could find. These are items of high explosives, 7 1/2 pounds of
blasting powder, that could do tremendous damage. Now we have an
opportunity perhaps, if the Department of Defense, the Corps of
Engineers, and this Congress steps forward, to be able to make a
difference for the people in the metropolitan area of
Portland-Vancouver-Washington. But it is an example of what we can do to
balance the environment, provide jobs, and give back precious resources
in terms of open space and redevelopment possibilities. 

But while we were on recess this last week, there was finally the
long-awaited report from the General Accounting Office that deals with
the environmental liabilities of just training range cleanup costs. The
report was rather startling. It indicated that while the Department of
Defense thought that its liability for the cleanup of training ranges was
about $14 billion, they find that other estimates show that liability
could well exceed $100 billion just for training range cleanup. Without
complete and accurate data, it is impossible to determine whether these
amounts represent a reasonable estimate, or what the implications are.

We have not performed a complete inventory of the ranges, identifying the
types and extent of the unexploded ordnance and the associated
contamination. We have a long list of areas that are formerly-used
defense sites, training sites, base closures. We do not have the top
management focus and leadership necessary even to get reliable report
estimates at this point, and sadly, there is no specific program for
unexploded ordnance remediation policy, goals, or program. 

Now, we have been writing as Members of Congress, bringing this to the
attention of the appropriators, to our fellow Members of Congress. This
is a situation that affects not just metropolitan Portland, but it is
something that touches people all across the country. 

Two weeks ago, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. NORTON)
and I led a trip to the American University campus and Spring Valley
residential development here in the District of Columbia, where they are
still excavating the hillside, removing arsenic. There is a child care
center on the campus of American University that was closed because of
intolerably high arsenic levels. 

In our Nation's Capitol, from coast-to-coast, border to border, we have
over 1,000 of these sites that need to be addressed that represent a
threat to the public safety and health, and if done properly, represent
an opportunity to have a transformational effect on communities in terms
of the economic activities associated with cleanup and then the reuse of
these facilities. 

(intervening dialogue with Rep. Pallone)

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's somber
reflections because we need to look at this in a balanced and objective
fashion. I would just conclude my remarks this evening on a note of
optimism and hoping that we will be able to work in a bipartisan fashion
to do something about having the Federal Government step up and lead by
example. 

The United States Government is the largest Superfund polluter in the
United States, the government itself. The military waste, the toxics and
explosives that we have littering the landscape constitute a battle right
here on American soil 26 years after the Vietnam war, 56 years after the
conclusion of World War II, 83 years after World War I. It involves mines
and nerve gases and toxics and explosive shells. It has claimed at least
65 lives that we know of, most of them since World War II. 

There is a strong likelihood, I am told, that there are more people who
have lost their lives that we just as yet do not know about, and there
are many more who have been maimed and injured. 

What, I guess, shocked me the most were two young boys who were killed as
a result of an explosive shell that they found in a field in a
subdivision in their hometown of San Diego that was a formerly used
military defense site. Three boys found the shell. They were playing with
it. They detonated it, and two of them were killed. This danger continues
every day. If we are not careful, at the rate we are going, it could last
for another 500 or 1,000 years. 
Now, this toxic waste of military activities in the United States could
potentially contaminate 20 to 25 million acres, and some estimates are as
high as 50 million acres. As I pointed out, we do not have a good
inventory. We do not know. But what we do know is, at the current rate of
spending in a budget that is not yet adequate, it will take centuries,
potentially 1,000 years or more to return the land to safe and productive
use and to protect children who may be playing, or wildlife. 

Fire fighters in the forests who were a couple of summers ago in a forest
fire in New York State, all of a sudden they were out in the forest, and
there were huge explosions because buried shells from artillery practice
that did not explode were suddenly being detonated by the forest fire.

Congress needs to report for duty. It needs to provide the administrative
and financial tools that are necessary. What I am talking about here is
not going to affect active ranges and readiness. My concern is for
closed, transferred, and transferring ranges where the public is already
exposed or soon will be. 

I hope that we can make every Member of Congress, every aspect of the
Department of Defense, the Corps of Engineers understand what is going on
in each and every one of our States, because every State is at risk.

We can make sure that somebody is in charge, that there is enough
funding, and that we get the job done so that no child will be at risk of
death, dismemberment or serious illness as a result of the United States
Government not cleaning up after itself. 

In the course of our conversation this evening, we have talked about some
positive elements and some that were perhaps a little disconcerting, but
I think this is an area that we can commit ourselves to working in a
bipartisan way. I can think of no more positive aspect for claiming the
true purpose and spirit of Earth Day than acting to make sure that the
Federal Government is doing all it can in this important area.

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Aimee R. Houghton                                 

Associate Director, CPEO

122 C Street NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC  20001-2109

tel: 202-662-1888; fax: 202-628-1825

Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org

www.cpeo.org

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