[CPEO-MEF] REGULATION: Defense Department questions state enforcement

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

[I don't think this reporter got it right. I believe DOD has repeated 
its hesitance to fund state oversight under certain conditions. The 
actual cleanup is paid for directly by the armed services. - LS]

Defense playing funding hardball
CLEANUP AT DRUM: Pentagon would resist enforcement action

By MARC HELLER
WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES (NY)
JULY 17, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has warned state environmental 
officials around the country not to take enforcement actions against 
toxic waste sites on military bases - or the Pentagon will not pay for 
cleanup as required by federal law.

The military's resistance to environmental enforcement is slowing 
efforts to clean some potentially dangerous sites, advocates for state 
agencies say, and forcing the New York state Department of Environmental 
Conservation to be more delicate than usual as it negotiates cleanups of 
several areas at Fort Drum.

At issue are the agreements between most states and the Defense 
Department that outline policies for cleaning contaminated sites. 
Although those agreements have been in place for years, the Pentagon in 
2006 announced a new approach to some of the fine print, including how 
the federal government reimburses states for the costs of remediation 
and removal of toxic substances.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20080717/NEWS02/616064132/Defense+playing+funding+hardball

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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