bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Municipal landfill Leachate management
Authors: Kusterer Thomas , Willson Robert , Bruce Stuart C. , Tissue Eric , Lau Peter J.
Published: February 2007

From 1995 to 1997, the Montgomery County Leachate Pretreatment Facility (MCLPF) has successfully pretreated in excess of 18,000,000 gallons of leachate generated by the county's municipal solid waste landfill. The collection system directs leachate from the original landfill, the new lined section, and the ash cell to the leachate pump station. The leachate, prior to being pumped to the leachate pretreatment system, is equalized in two storage lagoons with a combined capacity of more than 5,000,000 gallons.

The innovative leachate treatment system, incorporating a biological reactor system equipped with a submerged fixed‐film reactor using a patented Matrix Biological Film (MBF) media, continues to provide excellent pretreatment results for the leachate generated at the Oaks Landfill in Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1995 and 1996, the system responded to the substantial challenges imposed by the changing characteristics of the material being landfilled and by the significant amounts of incinerator ash, received in 1995 from the county's resource recovery facility (RRF), which influenced the influent leachate characteristics. The extremely wet weather caused the collection and equalization system to be overloaded and required the biological reactor system to operate at peak flow and loading conditions for extended periods of time. In fact, the facility pretreated in excess of 12,500,000 gallons of leachate in 1996 compared to only 5,500,000 gallons for all of 1995, and continued to meet permit requirements. Although the landfill closed in 1997, technological challenges to the system will continue. The past performance indicates that this system will continue to provide excellent pretreatment results and, in future years, may provide an effluent suitable for direct discharge.
Federally owned treatment works: New RCRA, FFCA questions and controversy
Authors: Hourcle Laurent R.
Published: February 2007

A proposal dealing with the Department of Defense's (DOD) counterpart to a municipal sewage treatment plant was one of the concessions sought by the DOD in return for the imposition of punitive civil penalties under the Federal Facilities Compliance Act (FFCA). Municipal sewage treatment plants, or Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs), are usually regulated under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit system of the Clean Water Act1 and not under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).2 This article discusses a key exclusion from and the controversy of RCRA's definition of “solid waste.”3 That definition identifies substances and, by implication, activities regulated by RCRA. Though exceptionally broad, this definition specifically excludes “solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage.”4 This is commonly called the domestic sewage exclusion (DSE).
The RCRA omnibus clause: A solution to RCRA/CERCLA conflicts?
Authors: Stubblebine Scott D.
Published: February 2007

This article examines a potential solution to the statutory, regulatory, and authority conflicts created by overlapping provisions of RCRA and CERCLA. It proposes the use of RCRA's omnibus provision and a recently proposed RCRA rule to create a consolidated regulatory approach. This article provides some introductory information about regulatory discretion, discusses the omnibus provision and its potential applicability, discusses a recent EPA proposal to allow certain closure activities to proceed under other regulatory programs, and concludes with a discussion of the proposed solution.
Military base cleanup, conversion, and conservation in California: Recent developments by the state department of fish and game
Authors: Milton Joseph
Published: February 2007

As a result of downsizing, many Department of Defense (DOD) bases in California are being closed. The economic dislocations caused by base closure are a major policy concern, and the successful economic conversion of these bases has become a top priority within state government.1 Still, conversion cannot proceed unless and until the hazardous wastes present at these installations are remediated. The expeditious cleanup and productive reuse of these installations implicate a broad range of federal, state, and local interests. Given the magnitude of the undertaking, the efficient cleanup and closure of these federal facilities will require close cooperation between DOD and relevant state agencies. This article discusses recent planning activities by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) in the areas of base cleanup and closure. This article explains why CDFG is involved, discusses the development of a CDFG Base Cleanup Team, and describes the anticipated benefits that will result from CDFG participation.
Implementing doe's streamlined approach for environmental restoration (SAFER)
Authors: Bottrell David W. , Dailey Richard L. , Bitner Kelly A.
Published: February 2007

This article discusses how the Department of Energy (DOE) developed the Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) to effectively recognize and manage the uncertainties inherent in the environmental restoration process. SAFER integrates the Data Quality Objective (DQO) process with the Observational Approach. DOE and EPA agreed to a joint pilot project test of SAFER. In January 1994, DOE selected four facilities to host the SAFER Pilot Projects: Hanford in Washington, Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, and the Mound Plant in Ohio. The Hanford Pilot focuses on remedial design and remedial action at a reactor area. SRS hosted two pilot projects, both of which were in the remedial investigation (RI) planning stage. The ORNL SAFER pilot project addresses the RI/feasibility study (FS) for a series of surface impoundments. At the Mound Plant, two projects involve removal actions. The third Mound project involves transferring property to the City of Miamisburg. An independent performance measurement team is measuring success in both quantitative and qualitative terms.
The 104th congress and federal facility environmental activities: A preliminary assessment
Authors: West Michael A.
Published: February 2007

The outcome of the 1994 congressional elections represented a political sea of change that seems certain to have a major impact on federal facility environmental activities. Nevertheless, it is too soon to forecast with any precision the nature and full extent of changes by a Republican‐controlled Congress. The $300 million dollar Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA) cut (along with a $200 million cut in DOE cleanup funding) contained in the recently enacted Emergency Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions for the Department of Defense to Preserve and Enhance Readiness 1995 Act suggests that there has been a significant change in congressional attitudes toward federal facility environmental requirements. Altogether, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittees have reduced the fiscal year 1995 DERA budget request by nearly one third. The fact that reductions of this magnitude failed to generate widespread comment or concern points to a continuation of congressional reductions to DOD and DOE environmental funding requests during the remainder of the 104th Congress.

Efforts to hold down DOD and DOE environmental funding levels may also provide strong incentive for Congress to carefully review environmental statutory requirements and regulatory reform. However, the issues are complex and difficult, and a quick or successful outcome is by no means certain. What is more certain at the installation level is that all stakeholders are going to be challenged by recent developments in Congress, and federal facilities managers and personnel can play a key role in trying to make sure that these challenges are handled in a civil and constructive fashion. To do so you will have to work hard to preserve the partnerships that have been forged, keep everyone engaged and focused on providing the most responsible options, and, above all, keep in mind that funding allocations may have changed, but existing statutory and regulatory requirements have not. Thus, the duty of federal facilities managers and personnel remains to identify environmental requirements, pass them up the chain of command, and use available funding as best you can to comply with regulatory guidance.
NEPA: Determining when an analysis contains sufficient detail to provide adequate coverage for a proposed action
Authors: Eccleston Charles H.
Published: February 2007

Neither the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) nor its subsequent regulations provide substantive guidance for determining the level of detail, discussion, and analysis that is sufficient to adequately cover a proposed action. Yet, decision makers are routinely confronted with making such determinations. Experience has shown that no two decision makers are likely to completely agree on the amount of discussion that is sufficient to adequately cover a proposed action. Lacking definitive guidance, decision makers and critics alike may point to a universe of potential factors as the basis for defending their claim that an action is or is not adequately covered. Experience indicates that assertions are often based on ambiguous opinions that can be neither proved nor disproved. Lack of definitive guidance slows the decision‐making process and can result in project delays. Furthermore, it can also lead to inconsistencies in decision‐making, inappropriate levels of NEPA documentation, and increased risk of a project being challenged for inadequate coverage. This article sets out a model specifically designed to streamline the NEPA process by providing a systematic approach for making these determinations. In many cases, agencies may find that using this model can reduce the analysis and size of NEPA documents.
Case study: Using a parametric model for environmental remediation cost estimating
Authors: Burns Thomas J. , Thurston Marland , Edgar Michael H.
Published: February 2007

Environmental remediation cost‐estimating models have been developed to reduce the uncertainty in budget estimates and in the contract preparation and negotiation process. The high cost of many remediation projects and the difficulty in arriving at realistic estimates are other factors driving model development. There are several methodologies used to produce cost estimates that have been standardized over time: comparative analysis, quantity take‐off or line‐item estimating, life‐cycle cost modeling, and parametric, or top‐down modeling. This article describes the Remedial Action Cost Engineering and Requirements (RACER) System, a parametric modeling system. Several specific models will be highlighted and their use to achieve a realistic cost estimate for CERCLA actions will be described.
Reducing remediation costs, schedule, and environmental liability at TVA
Authors: Huismann Scott S. , Burgess Blair D. , Addison Ronald E.
Published: February 2007

Two RCRA solid waste management unit/underground storage tank remediations were scheduled at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Environmental Research Center, Muscle Shoals, Alabama. By negotiating health risk‐based alternative cleanup levels (ACLs), using advanced laboratory methods, and employing bioremediation technology, ENSR provided a solution that satisfied the state agency and saved TVA time and money. Eliminating the need for transportation and off‐site disposal, TVA's environmental liabilities were also mitigated. This article presents a “how‐to” case study for effectively managing remediation projects and costs.
Case study: The observational approach and fast‐track remediation at NSB kings bay
Authors: Belcher David M. , Sichelstiel Kurt D.
Published: February 2007

Remediation of groundwater at NSB (Naval Submarine Base) Kings Bay proceeded from problem identification to groundwater treatment within a 22‐month period. This rapid implementation schedule resulted from application of observational approach methods to project management and technical decision making.

Finding that groundwater containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as vinyl chloride and dichloroethene was migrating off base property, base authorities and ABB Environmental Services, Inc. (ABB‐ES) established a fast‐track investigation/remediation program embodying the ideals of the observational approach. The investigation/remediation program of NSB Kings Bay Site 11 has proceeded in three phases. The first stage of the investigation/remediation program was implemented to confirm the existence of the chlorinated VOCs in site groundwater. The second phase of the investigation/remediation program was initiated to halt further contamination migration and to further delineate groundwater contamination. The third stage of investigation/remediation, source reduction and final remediation selection, is currently under way.

The uniqueness of the Kings Bay investigation/remediation program is in the approach to the problem. Compared to the traditional approach, which would have required a more comprehensive groundwater sampling and analysis program prior to remediation, the investigation/remediation approach applied at NSB Kings Bay allowed remediation to proceed on a more expeditious schedule, with an accepted amount of uncertainty derived from first‐stage groundwater data. It was also understood that modifications to the system would be made when deviations to the most probable conditions arose. As a result, contaminant migration has been effectively controlled, while further site investigation and source reduction evaluation have proceeded.
Considerations in designing a free product recovery system at NAF Adak, Alaska
Authors: Reis Richard S.
Published: February 2007

The United States Navy has operated a military installation at Adak Island, Alaska, since 1943. Jet fuel (JP‐5) has been used as the primary fuel source on the island, including use as heating oil in the housing areas. Releases of JP‐5 to the subsurface were discovered in three housing areas in 1988, and a product recovery system was installed in 1989. The original product recovery system consisted of 16 recovery wells with dual‐phase pumps. Recovered product was pumped into storage tanks for recycling on Adak. Recovered water was discharged to the sanitary sewer. The volume of product recovered by the system has declined steadily since installation.

The Navy retained EMCON in 1993 to investigate and evaluate the operational status and effectiveness of the existing recovery systems. EMCON determined that the product recovery systems were not operating as designed and that some of the plumes had migrated further beyond the effective zone of capture of the existing recovery wells. EMCON worked closely with the Navy to identify and design a new product recovery system that would effectively remediate the jet fuel product plumes while minimizing ongoing maintenance requirements.
A customer‐focused approach to improve environmental contracting
Authors: Jacobsen Jim L. , Levine Lawrence O.
Published: February 2007

This article summarizes a project in which a multiprogram national laboratory reevaluated its approach to contracting. With its significant contracting in environmental restoration and technology development and demonstration projects, the laboratory sought to realign its processes and evaluate alternative organizational structures in order to enhance its effectiveness. The contracts staff developed an approach to this reevaluation based on its mission and vision. Carefully working through many tasks, the contracts staff redesigned and restructured its organization to be more customer‐focused.

The contracts department shifted from a functional, centralized specialization to cross‐functional teams often colocated with customers. Each team performs a much broader range of functions, providing both enhanced service to its laboratory customers and greater continuity of support. The new structure has also improved the laboratory's service to its external customers.
Integrating operational and environmental data in an air force base‐wide GIS
Authors: Conry Thomas , Hushon Judith , Goldberg Jane , Kneeling Karl
Published: February 2007

Vandenberg AFB is implementing a base‐wide Geographic Information System (GIS) that integrates operational, planning, engineering, and environmental functions. Military bases face not only traditional facilities management needs, but also complex environmental management requirements. The environmental staff has had to deal with increasing legal mandates to manage, monitor, clean up, and protect the base's natural and cultural resources. Similarly, the civil engineering (CE) staff has had to meet the ongoing need to plan for and manage the base's built environment. GISs have great potential to provide the necessary data sharing and integration and to extend the capabilities of both the environmental and CE functions. Vandenberg AFB is employing an innovative approach to GIS integration by using the Air Force Comprehensive Planning process to plan and implement a base‐wide, multifunctional GIS.
Using environmental partnering at navy facilities to produce results
Authors: Katz Alan W.
Published: February 2007

From every avenue of concern comes the pressure today to accelerate the environmental cleanup of military installations while the available federal budget dollars decrease. The Navy has applied the principles of formalized partnering, adopted from the construction industry, and successfully accelerated many of its Defense Installation Restoration Program projects. Working together with federal, state, and local regulators, former adversarial relationships are being eliminated through committed team building centered on trust, open communications, and long‐term relationships. Top management is actively supporting environmental partnering with their own personal time and scarce departmental resources because they have experienced the improved working relationships that result in projects being completed in less time and often at or under budget. This article presents the elements of environmental partnering and provides two case studies in which it has been successful in producing real and measurable results.
Meeting the pollution prevention challenge at tinker air force base
Authors: James Jennifer , Heiniger Gordon G.
Published: February 2007

Today, the Air Force faces increasing environmental challenges. Stringent standards and past harmful practices dictate the need for smart pollution prevention and waste minimization strategies. Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, is responding to these challenges with an aggressive environmental program and is a recognized leader in the resolution of environmental problems, having won 29 major awards from academia, the private sector, and DOD.

For 50 years, Tinker has played a vital role in the operational and logistical support of the Air Force's mission. To ensure that it not only corrects past practices but also, more importantly, anticipates future problems, the base has implemented sweeping changes in the area of pollution prevention.
Federal facilities and OSHA: A practical guide for managers
Authors: Rudolph Thomas E.
Published: February 2007

Many seasoned federal facility environmental managers are very familiar with the “big three” environmental statutes: the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the Clean Water Act (CWA). Ask them about the RCRA Hazardous Waste rules, Title V of the CAA, or the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations, and they will explain the intricacies of those rules, ad nauseum. However, relatively few federal facility environmental managers are familiar with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) or the special rules that apply to federal agencies under Executive Order 12196 and the Federal Employee OSHA Regulations. This article provides an overview of those rules.
Resolving state and federal cleanup control issues: A Kentucky experience
Authors: Sutton Dean H.
Published: February 2007

DOE, EPA, and the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (KDEP) have been negotiating a Federal Facilities Agreement (FFA) for cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), located in southwestern Kentucky. The PGDP is a Federal Facility Superfund Site that is managing its hazardous wastes pursuant to permits issued by EPA and KDEP under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and state law. While the cleanup of the PGDP continues, the parties have had difficulty in finalizing the FFA, which is required by Section 120 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The article reviews the current status of CERCLA and RCRA law in this area and suggests a way to break through the impasse that has been hampering the negotiations.
The corrective action management unit (CAMU) final rule and its impact on mixed waste management
Authors: Hippensteel David L.
Published: February 2007

The Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU) Final Rule has provided much‐needed relief from land disposal restrictions and new land disposal facility minimum technology compliance for any waste meeting the requirements of a “remediation waste” as part of a Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) Corrective Action project. This waiver allows hazardous waste and mixed waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to actively manage remediation wastes within CAMUs and between CAMUs during HSWA Corrective Action programs, without having to comply with land disposal restrictions and minimum technology requirements.
Biological remediation of mixed waste by microbial mats
Authors: Phillips Peter , Bender Judith
Published: February 2007

Although for regulatory purposes, mixed waste contains both a hazardous component as well as a radioactive component, the biotreatment technology described here remediates waste in the form of organic and metal mixtures and radionuclides and mixed metals. The BiomatTM, a proprietary microbial consortium, is photosynthetic, using atmospheric carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen, and is nitrogen‐fixing (i.e., it uses atmospheric nitrogen to make usable nitrogen compounds for its growth). It contains anoxic (without oxygen) and oxic (with oxygen) zones in close proximity, which are assumed, for example, to simultaneously facilitate dechlorination and cleavage of aromatic carbon rings, respectively, in such difficult organic contaminants as PCBs and chlordane. It produces negatively charged, flocculating macromolecules which likely bind to metals.

The BiomatTM tolerates chemical toxins and various pH, salinity, and temperature levels. In the laboratory, it has removed an array of heavy metals and metalloids, mineralized pesticides, PCB, solvents, oils, and explosives to carbon dioxide, and removed mixed waste in a continuous flow system. In the field, it has removed manganese, zinc, and other heavy metals (e.g., silver, chromium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and iron) from mine drainage and BTEX, a gasoline mixture of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, from contaminated groundwater. Landfill leachate is a mixture of toxic organics, metals, and ammonia. Waste Management, Inc., Microbial & Aquatic Treatment Systems, Inc., and the University of Louisville are currently collaborating in a pilot project testing simultaneous remediation of leachate with the BiomatTM.
The 104th congress and federal facility environmental activities: 1st session wrap‐up
Authors: West Michael A.
Published: February 2007

The dire predictions about how federal facility environmental activities would fare in the 1st Session of the 104th Congress proved unfounded. The fiscal year 1996 DOD and DOE appropriations and authorization legislation did not transfer Defense cleanup programs to EPA or slash DOD and DOE environmental funding requests. In part, this reflected the recognition that much of the criticism of DOD and DOE environmental programs was based on a misunderstanding of their development and operation. DOD and DOE environmental managers deserve credit for justifying and demonstrating the relative effectiveness of their environmental programs to the new congressional leadership.
Foreign technologies reduce costs and accelerate hanford site cleanup
Authors: Alexander Sandra L.
Published: February 2007

Foreign technologies are being transferred to DOE's Hanford Site in Washington State to reduce costs and accelerate cleanup. Hanford is the most highly contaminated site in the DOE complex; its cleanup mission is projected to take over 30 years at a cost of approximately $230 billion. DOE contractors are using proven foreign technologies and services to accelerate cleanup and bypass costly technology development.

Many of the international activities being funded at the Hanford Site by DOE's Office of Environmental Management, Office of Technology Development (EM‐50), play a key role in meeting Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri‐Party Agreement) milestones that were established among DOE, EPA, and the Washington State Department of Ecology. For example, the purchase of a safe cask system from France meets the requirement for emergency aboveground transportation of liquid tank waste. An Effluent Treatment Facility built by a U.S. company that is wholly owned by Japan Gas Corporation supports milestones related to effluent waste management. Use of British technical services for various phases of the Initial Pretreatment Module supports other important milestones.

This article begins with a brief history of the Hanford Site cleanup mission. The major EM technical focus areas, countries that are collaborating with Hanford Site contractors, and specific initiatives are discussed. This article concludes with a summary of 1994–95 international activities that have had the greatest impact on meeting DOE cleanup goals.
CNG conversion: A cost‐effective alternative to trip reduction programs
Authors: Werle Christopher P. , Grover Jerry A. , Levinson Raymond A.
Published: February 2007

The United States Postal Service (USPS) Pacific Area implemented an employee trip reduction program (ETRP) in 1991. By the end of 1994, the Pacific Area was successful in increasing average vehicle ridership (AVR) from an initial level of 1.09 to approximately 1.15, against an ultimate goal of 1.50. (AVR is defined as the ratio of the number of employees arriving at the worksite to the number of vehicles arriving at the work site. Further, the ultimate goal is only a target. There is no penalty for not achieving the goal.) The total cost for administration and operation of the program during the same period was approximately $5.6 million. The apparent high cost of the program in comparison to the results achieved, coupled with similar results attained by other major employers within the same geographic area, prompted management to look toward alternatives to trip reduction which might provide equal or greater environmental benefit at reduced cost. The alternative selected for analysis was conversion of USPS gasoline‐powered fleet vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG). The approach used was to first determine the number of employee vehicle miles eliminated under the ETRP. Emissions factors in grams per mile were then applied to determine the corresponding amount of targeted pollutants (i.e., reactive organics, CO, and NOx) that were eliminated. By using ducumented emissions factors for gasoline‐and CNG‐fueled fleet vehicles, a comparison was drawn to estimate the appriximate number of vehicle conversions that would have been required to achieve the same net reduction of pollutants.

The results of this analysis showed that conversion of roughly 569 fleet gasoline‐powered vehicles to CNG would have achieved an equivalent reduction in emissions over the same four‐year period. This, in turn, would have cost only $4.4 millin (78 percent) over trip reduction. The economics of this analysis strongly suggest that some type of emissions reduction equivalency credit (EREC) should be applied to ETRP programs (particularly for thos organizations that have implemented comphrehensive ETRP and fleet fuel conversion programs) to enable more cost‐effective reduction of air emissons.
Risk‐based screening: Streamlining the baseline risk assessment process at federal facilities
Authors: Baines Ann , Haasbeek John , Stell Mary Jane
Published: February 2007

Recent EPA guidance has focused on using risk assessment to support remedial action decisions (U.S. 1991). However, experience has shown that the Baseline Risk Assessment (BRA) is very time‐consuming and often yields insufficient guidance to remedial design engineers in evaluation and selection of remedial alternatives. This article presents an approach for streamlining the BRA for a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) under CERCLA and for a Remedial Facility Investigation/Corrective Measures Study (RFI/CMS) under RCRA. It uses a combination of background concentrations, applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs), and risk‐based preliminary remediation goals (PRGs) to set conservative, media‐specific screening levels for all constituents of concern (COCs) at a facility. These screening levels streamline the RI/FS and RFI/CMS process by reducing the number of areas of concern (AOCs) and COCs that require detailed risk assessment and providing remedial design engineers with early guidance on areas and constituents possibly requiring remediation, thus allowing preliminary technology identification and evaluation to proceed concurrently with the BRA.

This article illustrates the utility of this approach, describing its application at a federal facility in the desert Southwest. The case study site was an ideal candidate for the screening approach in that it covered more than 22,000 acres, much of which was expected to be uncontaminated. Of the 45 AOCs initially identified in the Field Investigation Work Plan, only four AOCs required detailed risk evaluation after screening. In addition, the article describes the approach used in the case study site to screen potential risks posed by exposures to the interiors of concrete weapons storage bunkers (igloos).
Remediation efforts at DOE's hanford site
Authors: Abbott John C.
Published: February 2007

The Hanford Site in central southeastern Washington State is now cleaning up its act. Created back in the 1940s by the Atomic Energy Commission, now known as the Department of Energy (DOE), the Hanford Site produced the world's first plutonium for atomic bombs. Since that time, more reactors and processing plants were built, as its mission of producing atomic materials for our national defense continued. But this mission is done and the cold war is over. The reactors have been decommissioned, and the new mission of cleanup and restoration has begun. This article discusses some of the current cleanup technologies being used on the site, as well as innovative technologies which could be future value.
GIS for integrating environmental site remediation and compliance information
Authors: Maitin Izak
Published: February 2007

GIS and advanced visualization system technology for displaying underground conditions is being applied extensively to site investigations by federal agencies. Environmental compliance systems relating to emissions management, permitting, chemical inventory management, and traditional adherence to regulations have not received a comparable degree of application of GIS technology; they are being addressed by more traditional database management approaches. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate an integrated approach whereby a common database structure and GIS are used to manage both remediation and regulatory compliance data at large government facilities, and to provide access to information at a management level. The system integrates facility drawings, process flow diagrams, building drawings, photographs, MSDS documents, budgets, regulatory drivers, and remediation costs and schedule data within a common framework. The system also interfaces with high‐end and low‐end visualization software tools.
State permit certification requirements examined
Authors: Smith John M.
Published: February 2007

Nearly all of the myriad federal environmental statutes that have been passed have included waivers of sovereign immunity. In order for federal practitioners to understand the nature of these waivers, and how extensive they are, it is important to understand the history of waivers by viewing them through the Supreme Court's interpretation of what is required for Congress to yield federal control to the states with respect to federal facilities.

One area in which further exploration is necessary is states requiring professional engineers or registered engineers to certify permit applications or closure plans in accordance with state permit laws and regulations, in environmental fields as these laws and regulations apply to federal facilities. This issue is further complicated when the program has been given delegated authority by EPA. What is the effect of a program that has not been approved by EPA but still regulates an environmental area that will have a significant effect on a federal facility with respect to this same requirement?
Environmental compliance and military readiness
Authors: Hourcle Laurent R.
Published: February 2007

In recent years, Congress has questioned the appropriateness of the Department of Defense's (DOD's) environmental programs and their relevance to the Department's performance of its paramount national security mission. This increased criticism on Capitol Hill has been accompanied by significant funding cuts to the DOD cleanup requests in fiscal years 1995 and 1996. This article argues that further funding cuts will actually jeopardize readiness unless Congress also reexamines statutory environmental compliance requirements and regulatory structure that have been enacted over the past decade. Under current environmental law, military activities pollute—they always have and they always will. Just about any military activity can be regulated by a savvy regulator in terms of its “polluting” consequences. Moreover, EPA, the states, and interested citizens can bring to bear a number of formidable enforcement tools to ensure that military activities comply with statutory and regulatory guidance. Thus, the nature of U.S. environmental law makes military environmentally compliant “readiness” difficult and expensive.

The mobilization and surge requirements associated with Desert Storm raised a number of serious questions about the compatibility of the current environmental statutory and regulatory structure and time‐sensitive military requirements. Modifying permits and Presidential waivers proved to be too cumbersome to address the magnitude and complexity of military requirements associated with a major contingency operation. The article concludes that Congress needs to move beyond unthinking reduction of DOD environmental funding to the commencement of a dialogue as to whether there is a more effective approach to DOD maintaining readiness while meeting its environmental and public health responsibilities.
The mega‐issues in the federal facilities cleanup program
Authors: Yaroschak Paul J.
Published: February 2007

Despite a great deal of progress in consensus building among stakeholders involved in federal facility cleanup efforts in recent years, two mega‐issues have yet to be resolved. First, under what statutory and regulatory regime should federal facility cleanups be conducted? Second, how should federal agency cleanup budgets be determined? This article examines these mega‐issues and proposes a strategy for an efficient, cost‐effective federal facilities cleanup program. This strategy is based on the adoption of appropriate modifications to CERCLA Section 120 and RCRA, if necessary, to bring about a unitary cleanup approach for federal facilities, combined with full disclosure of requirements by federal agencies and the clarification of federal agency authority to set budget levels after considering the requirements.
Long‐term leases and the reuse of base closure property—The reaction of the courts and congress
Authors: Steinberg Barry P. , Peper Jennifer L.
Published: February 2007

The expeditious transfer and reuse of contaminated parcels of base closure property has been complicated by the requirements of Section 120(h)(3) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) that all remediation be completed or that a remedy be in place and working. Long‐term leases have been used by the Department of Defense (DOD) in recent years to facilitate community reuse efforts. This article examines the basis for legal challenges that DOD's use of long‐term leases violates CERCLA, the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Congress's response to recent court decisions. It Concludes that the enactment of Sections 2833 and 2834 of the National Defense Authorization Act provide a reasonable basis for the continuation of DOD's use of long‐term leases and demonstrates Congress's continued willingness to provide selective relief to facilitate and expedite community plans for the economic reuse of base closure property.
Guidance for negotiating the base closure environmental restoration gauntlet
Authors: Murphy Joseph M.
Published: February 2007

The military base closure acts passed in the United States since 1988 have established an aggressive challenge for the U.S. Army and other armed services to achieve. The challenge is to close the bases, restore the local environment to a condition suitable for reuse, and revitalize affected communities. Adding to the challenge is the need to do this under an accelerated schedule and in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws/regulations, including those pertaining to cleaning up hazardous waste. These actions need to be accomplished in an environment of constrained resources and high accountability for use of taxpayer's dollars. This challenge is similar to running a gauntlet, and one worthy of discussion and guidance on how to successfully avoid unnecessary pitfalls. This article discusses the scope of the U.S. Army's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Environmental Restoration Program, the myriad of interests that need to be satisfied to accomplish its objectives, some techniques the Army has utilized with a fair degree of success to negotiate the BRAC gauntlet, and several site‐specific examples of success that resulted from using these techniques.
Putting a price tag on the environmental consequences of the cold war
Authors: Tyborowski Teresa A.
Published: February 2007

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Environmental Management (EM) released the second Baseline Environmental Management Report (BEMR) in July 1996. The congressionally mandated report provides life‐cycle cost estimates, tentative schedules, and projected activities necessary to complete DOE's Environmental Management Program. This “base case” estimate is predicated on current program assumptions and the most likely set of activities. However, since the future course of the Environmental Management Program depends on a number of fundamental technical and policy choices, alternate program scenarios also were developed. This article describes the creation and implementation of the life‐cycle cost estimating process underlying the BEMR. It addresses the history of the Environmental Management Program and the requirement for life‐cycle cost estimates, organizational and methodological challenges to implementing life‐cycle planning, general methodology and results, and implications of life‐cycle planning.
Relative risk site evaluation within DOD's cleanup program
Authors: Turkeltaub Robert , Rowe William D.
Published: February 2007

This article describes elements of the relative risk site evaluation framework used by the Department of Defense (DOD) and military services, and it presents the results of relative risk site evaluations at the DOD level through April 1996. It summarizes how DOD uses relative risk informations as a program management tool, describes the status of relative risk implementation efforts, and summarizes findings and recommendations for improving the consistency and quality of relative risk site evaluations and associated data in the future.
Alleviating conflicts between army training and endangered species at fort bragg
Authors: Gorsira Bryan , Belfit Scott C. , Cantrell Mark A.
Published: February 2007

The second‐largest endangered red‐cockaded woodpecker (Piciodes borealis) (RCW) population in the world is located in the Sandhills physiographic region of North Carolina. The majority of the RCWs are located on the Ft. Bragg Military Installation. Ft. Bragg is working toward species recovery by conducting intensive cavity enhancement, RCW tree monitoring, RCW breeding surveys, growing season burns, and midstory reduction. However, significant barriers to recovery exist. The RCWs occur in two smaller‐than‐viable populations, one primarily on Ft. Bragg and surrounding private lands, the other on Camp Mackall and the state‐owned Sandhills Game Lands. Camp Mackall is separted from Ft. Bragg by a 10‐kilometer gap of private and state landholdings. Cooperation among private, federal, and state landowners is necessary to reestablish and maintain habitat for linkage between the Camp Mackall and Ft. Bragg populations. Dispersal between populations is required to ensure genetic interchange, increase population stability, and fcilitate recovery of the Sandhills population. A regional working group consisting of personnel from federal, state, and private conservation organizations has been established to develop and coordinate a conservation strategy for the North Carolina Sandhills. Current initiatives include: (1) safe harbor habitat conservation plan; (2) public outreach programs; (3) cooperative research agreement between the Army and the National Biological Survey; and (4) cooperative agreement between the Army and The Nature Conservancy. The future of military training at Ft. Bragg is linked to recovering endangered species, precluding the need to list additional species as endangered, and sustaining the longleaf‐wiregrass ecosystem of the region.
Meeting current challenges to DOD's conservation program
Authors: Peter Boice L.
Published: February 2007

The Department of Defense (DOD) is a major user of land, sea, and airspace. The steward of 25 million acres, DOD is the third‐largest federal land management department in the United States. Many rich and varied natural and cultural resources are present on DOD installations. DOD's conservation goal is to support the military mission while managing these important resources for multiple uses for future generations. DOD faces significant challenges in achieving this goal. Military mission demands on these resources are increasing, and various stakeholders have potentially conflicting ideas on how to manage and use these resources. Further, downsizing may affect DOD's ability to effectively manage these resources. Potential solutions include emphasizing regional ecosystem management, promoting new partnerships and enhancing existing ones, seeking legislative improvements, expanding training and public awareness programs, and developing new management tools and techniques.
Federal environmental market: Opportunity ahead!?
Authors: Frazier David B.
Published: February 2007

This article reviews emerging trends in the federal environmental market and evaluates the risks and opportunities for environmental firms into the 21st century. While the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) continue to face substantial environmental compliance and cleanup requirements, funding levels are expected to remain flat and could actually decline due to the trade‐offs involved in the political calculus to achieve a balanced budget by the year 2002. Nevertheless, the article identifies a number of opportunities for environmental firms seeking federal business, including DOE privatization initiatives, performance‐based contracting, cleanup of DOD closing bases, and technology development (especially that focused on pollution control and prevention). The author concludes that firms that can navigate the difficult waters of the environmental market are likely to experience real growth in the future.
NEPA is a powerful collaborative planning process
Authors: Lee Judith Landry
Published: February 2007

After 25 years, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is still highly misunderstood and inefficiently implemented. NEPA, however, incorporates the components of a quality public interdisciplinary planning process. The components that make NEPA a powerful planning process—recognition of the role of uncertainty, interpersonal collaboration, nonlinear processes, and decision making with administrative and political risk—tend to make NEPA discomforting, at best, to many managers and practitioners. NEPA is not about more “bullet‐proof” documents, more talented writers, more thorough data, more controllable public involvement processes, or even correct decisions. NEPA is about more participatory planning, incorporating the “messy” human components of values, politics, change, uncertainty, risk, strategy, emotions, and the diversity of personalities and life experiences that shape ourselves, our coping mechanisms, and our relationships. This article evaluates NEPA from the human standpoint and outlines six general techniques for effectively implementing the systematic interdisciplinary approach to planning required by NEPA.
Water planning tools for fixed military installations
Authors: Hanna‐Somers Nancy A. , Hauer Richard J. , Scott Willett J. , Langowski John F.
Published: February 2007

The Installation Water Resources Analysis and Planning System (IWRAPS©), developed initially for the Army, provides installation water engineers and planners with a tool that defensibly provides water requirement forecasts and conservation analysis. IWRAPS© models have also been developed for the Air Force (IWRAPS©‐AF) and the Navy and Marine Corps (IWRAPS©‐NAV). The models are automated for use within PC‐based software systems and forecast seasonally disaggregated water requirements into 21 water‐use sectors. Water conservation analysis algorithms in IWRAPS© facilitate the analysis of water conservation efforts associated with various end uses to estimate overall program efficiency. Mobilization water requirements planning can also be accomplished with IWRAPS©. The models developed for the military service branches improve estimating water requirements from conventional per capita extrapolation to a statistical water use method for predicting past and future water needs.
Sustainable development for department of defense industrial processes
Authors: Morris Virginia L.
Published: February 2007

During the 1992 Rio Conference on the Environment, concerned parties agreed the world's population was rapidly outpacing the capacity of the earth to provide natural resources. The rate of consumption of nonrenewable raw materials is escalating as the world's population increases. Shortly after the Rio Conference the World Business Council on Sustainable Development was formed to develop strategies for sustainable development. This article explores the benefits of applying the concepts of sustainable development to the industrial processes of the Department of Defense (DOD) to minimize their impact on the environment, to ensure the use of renewable raw materials and to make more comprehensive decisions on alternative industrial processes that integrate economic and ecological impacts.