[CPEO-MEF] BRAC bill - Appropriations and Perchlorate

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Yesterday, November 5, 2003 the House of Representatives overwhelmingly
approved the Conference Committee version of Fiscal Year 2004 Military
Construction Appropriations Act. The text of the bill and conference
report may be found at
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app04.html
Go to the row for Military Construction and the Conference Report
column, and click for the documents as well as the Highlights press release.

According to the press release, the bill provides for $323 million for
environmental cleanup at Base Realignment and Closure facilities. This
is down from the President's $412 million request, but there's no
indication whether income from land sales is supposed to account for
that difference.

In addition, the conference report - not the actual statute - contains
the following requirement (p. 17):
"Perchlorate -- The conferees direct the Department to submit a report
identifying the sources of perchlorate on Base Realignment and Closure
(BRAC) properties and the plans to remediate perchlorate contamination
on these sites no later than April 30, 2004, instead of March 30, 2004
as proposed by the Senate."

The latter half of the requirement shouldn't take long to write because
the Defense Department doesn't yet have plans to address perchlorate at
most facilities. 

Lenny
-- 


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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