[CPEO-MEF] Air Force to include land use controls in RODs

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[The following appears to be a reversal of position. - LS]



Cleanup process gets DOD support

by Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez
Air Force Print News

10/20/2003 - WASHINGTON -- The Air Force gained Department of Defense
support in October for an environmental-cleanup approach that may
accelerate progress at as many as 24 Air Force sites.

The new method involves merging land-use control actions into records of
decision, said Maureen Koetz, deputy assistant secretary of the Air
Force for environment, safety and occupational health.

The record is a document that explains how service officials intend to
clean up contaminants in the environment, Koetz said. It is essentially
the conclusion of a series of studies and investigations that often
takes more than a decade to complete. 

"What the Air Force is planning to do is incorporate (its) performance
actions for maintaining land-use controls right into the record of
decision -- an enforceable document under the law," Koetz said.

Nevertheless, the record is not the final step before actually cleaning
a site.

As part of a cleanup, Air Force officials agree with regulators in many
cases as to land-use controls. These controls specify what restrictions,
if any, will be placed on a site during and/or after it is cleaned. 

By merging land-use controls into the record of decision, Koetz said,
the Air Force is bringing its environmental cleanup process more in step
with the White House administrator’s results-oriented approach to
government. Instead of focusing on administrative processes, the service
can begin to focus on performance and achieving results. 

"We would prefer to have our agreement with environmental regulators
right up front and come to terms with exactly what it is we are expected
to do to fulfill our responsibilities," Koetz said. "This is really
where the major transformation is taking place.”

Officials want to take the focus away from submitting documents, Koetz
said. They want to make the objectives, and actions required to meet
them, to be the main responsibility.

The Air Force has had success working with Environmental Protection
Agency officials to combine the land-use controls and record of decision
at two cleanup sites: Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and Hanscom AFB,
Mass. Officials now hope to apply that same process to as many as 24
records of decision that until now have been delayed because of
differences with regulators and DOD.


for the original, see
http://www.af.mil/stories/story_print.asp?storyID=123005837
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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