[CPEO-MEF] GAO Report on Former Defense Sites Cleanup Coordination

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

The following is excerpted from the recently released GAO report,
"Environmental Contamination: DOD Has Taken Steps to Improve Cleanup
Coordination at Former Defense Sites but Clearer Guidance Is Needed to
Ensure Consistency".

The complete report can be viewed at:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03146.pdf
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is in charge of addressing
cleanup at the more than 9,000 U.S. properties that were formerly owned
or controlled by the Department of Defense (DOD) and have been
identified as potentially eligible for environmental cleanup. The Corps
has determined that more than 4,000 of these properties have no hazards
that require further Corps study or cleanup action. However, in recent
years, hazards have surfaced at some of these properties, leading state
and federal regulators to question whether the Corps has properly
assessed and cleaned up these properties. In this context, Congress
asked us to (1) analyze federal coordination requirements that apply to
the cleanup of these properties, (2) assess recent DOD and Corps efforts
to improve coordination, and (3) identify any issues regulators may have
about coordination with the Corps.

What GAO Recommends:

DOD and the Corps should (1) develop clear and specific coordination
guidance that should explicitly include, among other things, preliminary
assessment of eligibility and ordnance and explosive waste; (2) assess
recent efforts to improve coordination at the national as well as
district level and promote wider distribution of best practices; and (3)
work with EPA to clarify their respective roles in the cleanup of former
defense sites that are not on the list of the nation’s worst hazardous
sites.

To view the full report, including the scope and methodology, click on
the following link:
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-146.

For more information, contact (Ms.) Anu Mittal or Ed Zadjura on (202)
512-3841.

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