[CPEO-MEF] Public involvement at Kelly

["Scharven, Ronald S CIV USAF HQ AFMC/PAX" <Ronald.Scharven@wpafb.af.mil>]

 Lenny,

I worked the Kelly RAB for almost two years and most of the board
members had their own private agendas and clicks divided the board; no
matter what the Air Force said or did it was not truthful, not enough
and didn't answer the question; they would ask the same questions time
and time again and kept the board from doing anything positive.

Vr
Ron scharven

-----Original Message-----
From: military-bounces@list.cpeo.org
[mailto:military-bounces@list.cpeo.org] On Behalf Of
military-request@list.cpeo.org
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 2:57 PM
To: military@list.cpeo.org
Subject: Military Digest, Vol 32, Issue 5

Send Military mailing list submissions to
	military@list.cpeo.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
	military-request@list.cpeo.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
	military-owner@list.cpeo.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
"Re: Contents of Military digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. Public involvement at former Kelly Air Force Base (TX)
      (Lenny Siegel)
   2. PRESS RELEASE: Bringing Dairy Research Center into
Compliance
      (Laura Olah)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:16:24 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Public involvement at former Kelly Air Force Base
	(TX)
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <461D5E38.7020208@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

On April 10, 2007, I attended the Former Kelly Air Force Base
Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Kelly, a
closed Air Logistics Center, is one of the most expensive and
challenging non-Superfund sites in the Defense Department's
Environmental Restoration program.

One of my objectives was to learn how the Air Force Real Property
Agency's new policy on RAB membership was affecting public involvement. 
In September 2006, interpreting the newly Promulgated RAB Rule, the Air
Force excluded from RAB membership community members who lived outside a
specific geographic area.

There were only four community RAB members at the RAB table April 10. In
fact, for the second meeting in a row, the RAB was unable to achieve the
quorum of six necessary to elect a community co-chair. Yet there were
about a dozen community members sitting in the spectator ("potted palm")
chairs. Two of those spectators were former RAB members, one of whom had
worked at the base and the other had lived in an adjacent neighborhood
for five decades. They don't qualify for membership any more.

During the first 1 1/2 hours of the meeting, we potted palms were asked
not to pose questions or make comments. After that, there was a public
comment period. The membership policy, coupled with the restriction on
participation, greatly limited the interaction. (At the former Moffett
Field Naval Air Station RAB, non-members frequently take part in
discussions.) The official technical updates would have been much more
useful if questions had been entertained.

One of the RAB members questioned the location of the official document
repository in San Antonio's downtown library, far from the Kelly
Neighborhood. He also asked for short, plain-language versions of key
documents.

The Air Force chair suggested that the availability of documents on-line
might overcome some of the inconvenience. Indeed, to the Air Force's
credit, the entire administrative record is available in electronic,
searchable form.

However, neither the Repository nor the on-line Record are easy to use,
unless one knows what one is looking for. The community impacted by
Kelly, now and in the past, is low-income, primarily of Mexican descent.

They have been served by independent technical consultants - who have
reviewed documents on behalf of the community - but they still need help
knowing which studies are most important and which decisions might be
influenced.

Thus, while the Air Force and regulators meet regularly with the public
at Kelly, public involvement appears to be inadequate. The neighboring
community suffers because it appears to have little say over the cleanup
program. The Air Force suffers because it doesn't have the benefit of
substantial constructive public involvement.

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




------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:15:46 -0500
From: "Laura Olah" <cswab@merr.com>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] PRESS RELEASE: Bringing Dairy Research Center into
	Compliance
To: "info" <info@cswab.org>
Message-ID: <000001c77d04$b4f05920$0602a8c0@CSWAB>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

CSWAB

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

E12629 Weigand's Bay South - Merrimac, WI  53561

Phone (608) 643-3124 - Fax (608) 643-0005

Email: info@cswab.org - Website: www.cswab.org

April 12, 2007

 


PRESS RELEASE


For Immediate Release

 

For more information contact:


Laura Olah, CSWAB (608)643-3124


 

Bringing Dairy Research Center into Compliance

PRAIRIE DU SAC - After more than 17 months of pressure from CSWAB, the
U.S.
Department of Agriculture has set a May 1 deadline for getting the Dairy
Forage Research Center Farm into compliance with state and federal laws
that protect water quality.

Since 2002, all Wisconsin farmers have been required to prepare annual
Nutrient Management Plans (NMPs) to protect our lakes, streams, and
groundwater from polluted agricultural runoff.  According to the Sauk
County Land Conservation Department, federal agencies such as the U.S.
Department of Agriculture are not exempted from these requirements.  

The Dairy Forage Research Center (DFRC), however, has not been producing
annual NMPs for its rural Sauk County facility which currently has
approximately 670 dairy cattle.  A plan was also required as part of its
permit for the manure-holding facility constructed last year on
recently-acquired land at Badger Army Ammunition Plant.  Sauk County
officials said, however, that the required NMP has still not been
submitted.

An environmental protection specialist with the Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) in Peoria, Illinois said that the facility's NMPs have
"not necessarily been written down" and that the agency has "perhaps not
fulfilled Wisconsin's requirements before".   

Regional ARS Director Steven R. Shafer said that the agency is working
quickly to get the facility in compliance and personally set the May 1
target.  Members of CSWAB's board met with DFRC staff on April 3 to
discuss progress in completing required plan components such as mapping,
soil testing, and nutrient analysis.  CSWAB has retained a professional
hydrologist/soil scientist to review recently-acquired records for 2002
to 2006.  

The Dairy Forage Research Center Farm, including barns and a manure
management facility, is located adjacent to Lake Wisconsin in rural
Prairie du Sac.  The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.  The farm
operates jointly with the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of
Agricultural and Life Sciences, Agricultural Research Stations.  In
September of 2004, the USDA received custody of 1,943 acres of the
former Badger Army Ammunition Plant.


Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) was organized in 1990 by
neighbors of the closing military base and has been a driving force in
the successful cleanup and conversion of the plant to conservation and
sustainable agriculture. 

 

END

 

 

--

Laura Olah, Executive Director

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

E12629 Weigand's Bay South

Merrimac, WI  53561

(608)643-3124

Email: info@cswab.org

Website: www.cswab.org

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://www.cpeo.org/pipermail/military/attachments/20070412/02f81441/att
achment-0001.html

------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military


End of Military Digest, Vol 32, Issue 5
***************************************
_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military