[CPEO-MEF] Pentagon Proposals: A response to R.S. Taylor

[joelf@cape.com]

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Dear Folks,

Robert S. Taylor (rst), thinks my recent note on Pentagon proposed 
changes in environmental law was referring to the Safe Drinking Water 
Act (SDWA). In fact, I made no mention of SDWA. The first sentence of 
my note asserted:

"The proposed change in CERCLA by the Pentagon is obscure to the point
of being deceptive."

Most people on the CPEO list know that CERCLA is not SWDA. Weakening 
the protections of the public under CERCLA is itself intolerable. 
There are situations in which CERCLA, rather than SWDA, might be the 
appropriate instrument to control the extremely hazardous emissions 
that are an inescapable consequence of bombing, artillery and mortar 
firing and use of rockets. Moreover, if the illogical changes 
demanded by the Pentagon are enacted relative in CERCLA, then SWDA 
could be the next target.

Mr. Taylor writes: "Then why, you might ask, did the Pentagon propose 
this change?  The reason is to ensure that the use of a range for its 
intended purpose is not treated as if that very use were a bad act -- 
like an unpermitted release of contaminants on the ground."

The acts in question are "bad" in and of themselves, independent of 
"intended purpose". The "release of contaminants on the ground", is 
simply a bad act, no matter who is doing it, particularly when such 
releases may enter groundwater or be associated with contamination of 
the air. Moreover, it seems particularly ridiculous to permit such 
releases on one piece of earth, but to remediate them on adjacent 
land--especially when the contaminants have migrated from the one to 
the other.

To follow this discussion, readers need easy access to the Pentagon 
paragraphs in question:

"(b)(1) Definition of Release. - (1) The term 'release,' as used in the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 
1980, as amended (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.), includes the deposit off an 
operational range, or the migration off an operational range, of any 
explosives, unexploded ordnance, munitions, munitions fragments, or 
constituents thereof.

"(2) The term 'release,' as used in the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
9601 et seq.), does not include the deposit or presence on an
operational range of any explosives, unexploded ordnance, munitions,
munitions fragments, or constituents thereof that are or have been
deposited thereon incident to their normal and expected use."

For a healthier and more peaceful world,

Joel Feigenbaum

--
Joel Feigenbaum
24 Pond View Drive
E. Sandwich MA 02537
(508)-833-0144

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