[CPEO-MEF] Unexploded Arms Require Big Cleanup At 16,000 U.S. Sites

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Unexploded Arms Require Big Cleanup At 16,000 U.S. Sites
EPA Papers Note Major Health Risks
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 25, 2002; Page A04


Unexploded munitions at 16,000 inactive military ranges, including
chemical and biological weapons, pose "imminent and substantial" public
health risks and could require the largest environmental cleanup program
ever implemented by the U.S. government, according to newly released
Environmental Protection Agency documents.

The documents, made available by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER), a Washington-based advocacy group that advises
environmental whistle-blowers, also state that EPA officials are
concerned by the Pentagon's refusal to abide by EPA regulations when
cleaning up the sites.

One of the documents, a briefing paper written this summer for the EPA's
head enforcement officer, cites a "disturbing trend" by the military
services and the Army Corps of Engineers to limit their cleanup
activities or "take ill-advised short-cuts to limit costs."

The EPA documents released by PEER indicate the potential of far greater
and costlier cleanup problems associated with unexploded ordnance than
previously acknowledged by government officials.

Jeff Ruch, PEER's executive director, said his organization obtained the
documents confidentially from an EPA whistle-blower who believes the EPA
and the Defense Department are failing to adequately address groundwater
and soil contamination caused by unexploded munitions on inactive ranges
across 30 million to 40 million acres, an area roughly the size of the
state of Florida.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34776-2002Nov24.html

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