European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Military pollution new Day the  military a an Industrial giant in the unique business of producing lethal weapons and operating a Fleet of air planes ships and heavy vehicles to deliver them a is the Federal government s most prolific polluter. With installations that generate about 1.4 million Gallons of hazardous waste a year government records show the military services have discharged potentially harmful materials into the air. Water and soil in communities across the United states at 1.579 military installations 14,401 Sites of potential toxic waste contamination already have been identified. Department of defense figures show. Another 7,059 formerly used defense properties Are under investigation by the army corps of engineers to determine if they too Are polluted and in need of cleanup already the military has 87 installations on or proposed for the Federal superfund list of the most threatening hazardous waste Sites in the nation and that eventually could grow to 200. Officials say Quot this environmental situation on military bases is the no 2 problem to an outright  said rep. Richard Ray. D a. Chiel of the House armed services committee s Welense environmental restoration panel military officials say their pollution is a legacy of the time before scientific knowledge about the harmful effects of Industrial chemicals led to stricter environmental Laws a we re trying to Bury All that Quot Deputy assistant Secretary of defense William Parker Iii said Quot we re trying to be a Good citizen but a new Day study of the Pentagon s pollution reveals that the armed services have been slow to move have resisted slate regulators efforts to Force compliance with environmental Laws and continue to violate ant pollution Laws even As officials in Washington insist their bases Are trying to be better neighbors this poor record exists despite the military s knowing at least 17 years ago that some of its bases were contaminated and despite the creation in 1984 of a special account to Lund environmental cleanups. Now. With the department of defense budget being squeezed by the combined pressures of the Federal deficit and lower East West tensions. Pentagon officials Are culling Back on planned funding for environmental restoration they say environmental funding cannot keep growing while weapons systems and other military programs Are Cut Quot there s got to be a balance Between National Security and the environment Quot said Kevin Doxey director of the defense environmental restoration program. In fiscal 1990. The Pentagon requested $517 million for its defense environmental restoration program about half the level military officials just a year earlier had said was necessary to keep cleanups on track. Congress approved $600 million instead. The White House is asking $817 million in the 1991 budget. A staff study by the House defense environmental restoration panel concluded that at an annual spending rate of $500 million the Pentagon s cleanup would be under funded by $9.2 billion Over the next five years. Cleanups would take 50 years not 20 or 25, As first estimated and the account could pay for nothing but current superfund Sites and perhaps not All of those new Day also found that a Only 2 percent of the Sites the military suspects Are contaminated have been cleaned up. Thorough pre cleanup studies have been completed at 7 percent of the Sites a the army corps of engineers has conducted the initial a and most superficial a paperwork reviews for Only half the 7,059 defunct military Sites it is charged with investigating. Of those 3,528, environmental assessments have been completed at fewer than half a 1,667 Sites. Corps officials say nearly 82 percent of those Are ineligible for funding. A state officials have often been thwarted in efforts to get military bases to comply with environmental regulations. And the military like other Federal agencies usually refuses to pay fines when frustrated state regulators impose them a Pentagon violations continue records of environmental Protection Agency inspections at Federal facilities last year show that of the 383 citations for99 there a got to be a balance Between National Security and the environment99 violations of clean air. Clean water and hazardous waste Laws 72 percent went to military installations a strapped for Money to finance cleanups at its Active bases the department of defense has earmarked almost no funds for environmental work at the 86 military bases it intends to begin closing this year in a Cost cutting program. A besides its network of bases the military May be responsible for cleaning up huge tracts of Federal land it has used for weapons testing bombing ranges target practice and other purposes. A the Pentagon refuses to publicly discuss pollution problems at . Military installations abroad. It has kept secret a 1986 general accounting office study on the mishandling of hazardous waste at overseas bases. But congressional sources Point to studies showing extensive ground water contamination flowing from air Force and Navy installations on Guam As evidence the military s pollution could be global at Home defense officials have known Lor nearly two decades that contamination from military operations could be threatening both base personnel and nearby communities. In 1973, the army first began suspecting that a dangerous soup of toxins a including discarded nerve and Mustard Gas Lead Mercury arsenic and an array of dangerous solvents a could be escaping from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver. After that was found to be True the military launched surveys at Many bases to determine if environmental hazards existed. But that Early Start did not prompt Early action cleanups of bases where contamination was suspected in the late 1970s Are just now getting under Way or Haven t been attempted at All Pentagon reports and Epa records show. Pentagon officials say they Are not to blame for the frequent Long delays in cleaning up the superfund Law which sets timetables for study and cleanup of environmental hazards is too cumbersome and provides for too much review and Public input they say Quot it s very Complex it s very emotional and there Are a lot of political elements to this Quot said Parker who Heads environmental programs for the department of defense environmentalists and Many state officials see it another Way the military has squandered valuable time trying to avoid environmental regulations they say and until recently resisted even the Epa s efforts to Force compliance Quot i feel it s the last unregulated Industry Quot said Shira flax a toxics specialist for the environmental group Sierra club. The House armed services committee in a 1989 report noted that it took seven months of Quot hard bargaining Quot Between the department of defense and the Epa just to come up with Quot Madel Quot language to be used in cleanup agreements. Epa records show that agreements covering Only 25 polluted department of defense Sites have been reached and All but three of them were signed within the past year. Meanwhile states complain of the military s resistance to enforcement of hazardous waste Laws. In Utah for example state officials Point to four military facilities As being habitually out of compliance with ant pollution regulations a so much so that they Are issued violation notices after every annual inspection Quot i think there s an attitude out there that the military seems to be above the Law and they la get around to compliance when they want to get around to compliance a when its convenient and when there s Money in the budget Quot said Scott Anderson who handles compliance for the Utah Bureau of solid and hazardous waste. At the Pentagon Parker said the military wants to a negotiate Quot with states on compliance but not pay penalties for failure to meet the Law. In addition Parker said it is up to the military a not regulators a to decide which Sites get cleaned up first on a special priority Model it is now developing the intent is to finance cleanups at the worst Sites first Pentagon officials say. The motive driving development of the new priority system officials acknowledge is Money. The Pentagon says about $15 billion will have to be spent Over the next 20 years to Complete cleanups at installations known to be tainting the environment. Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes sunday february 25,1990