[CPEO-MEF] BLUMENAUER STATEMENT ON RECENT GAO REPORT ON UXO

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News from Congressman EARL BLUMENAUER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 21, 2005

BLUMENAUER STATEMENT ON RECENT GAO REPORT ON UXO

Portland, Ore. - Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D - Ore) issued the 
following statement today in response to the recently released General 
Accounting Office (GAO) report on the upcoming round of military base 
realignments and closures and clean up of unexploded ordnance (UXO).

"I am pleased that this new report shows progress is being made in 
efforts to close and realign surplus military facilities.  In addition 
to saving money for the Department of Defense, many communities around 
the country will benefit from the new jobs and valuable land that 
transferred bases provide.

"This report also highlights significant challenges.  It states that the 
transfer of 140,000 acres of former military sites has been delayed 
primarily because of the costs associated with cleanup of UXO and 
chemical contamination.  The cleanup costs associated with this 
remaining property are estimated at $3.6 billion.  This amount will 
likely increase as more research is done and more UXO is discovered. 
Just cleaning up the remaining bases closed in 1988 could cost more than 
$70 million.

"Unfortunately, the BRAC (base realignment and closure) sites are only a 
small part of the UXO problem.  In previous reports, the GAO has 
estimated that cleaning up formerly used defense sites will cost between 
$8 billion to $35 billion. At the current rate of spending, this could 
take up to 300 years."

"The GAO estimates that the Department of Defense will likely save about 
$7 billion a year from its past BRAC rounds.  If just a fraction of 
these savings were put towards cleanup, as well as toward research and 
development of more efficient technology, the DoD could make significant 
progress in transferring the remaining bases to public use.

 "I hope that Congress will consider at least addressing the problem of 
cleanup at sites closed in 1988 before advancing further base closures. 
 The slow, ponderous, approach to UXO clean up is one of the greatest 
impediments for realigning our outmoded base inventory. It is 
unacceptable to saddle communities with closed bases that will present 
dangers from UXO and other environmental contaminants for decades. Our 
failure to deal meaningfully with UXO clean up erodes public support at 
a time when our military deserves strong public support."

                                  ###

http://blumenauer.house.gov

--
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
http://www.cpeo.org


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