Thursday, May 9, 2024
Defense Environment Alert -- The Defense Department is signaling it may abandon its years-long push to win exemptions from provisions of federal waste laws, following its failure to convince Congress that cleanup laws are impeding military readiness, according to defense and other sources.
Defense Environment Alert -- A recent environmentalists' lawsuit challenging the Navy's use of mid-frequency sonar highlights the breakdown of a federal advisory panel's effort to agree on what harm man-made sound may be causing marine mammals and to develop mitigation measures for addressing that harm.
Defense Environment Alert -- The Defense Department is being roundly criticized over its recently proposed base realignment and closure revitalization rule, particularly its plan to drop a focus on local economic recovery and cleanup obligations, according to a review of comments submitted to DOD.
In an anticipated move, environmentalists filed suit Oct. 19 against the Navy, charging its use of mid-frequency sonar during routine testing and training throughout the world's oceans is harming marine mammals and violating U.S. environmental laws.
Defense Environment Alert -- Local governments, property redevelopers and communities are urging the Defense Department to revamp a proposed rule aimed at revitalizing bases slated for closure in the upcoming Base Realignment and Closure round, citing the rule's failure to commit to aggressive cleanup at BRAC sites and its weakening the role of local governments in the cleanup and reuse process.
Defense Environment Alert -- The Defense Department has issued a long-awaited rule setting methods for prioritizing cleanup work at thousands of military ordnance sites.
Defense Environment Alert -- Senate Environment Committee Chairman James Inhofe's (R-OK) backing, following Hurricane Katrina, of administration plans to site oil refineries on closed military bases is doing little to build support for the idea from base redevelopers and local government officials.
Defense Environment Alert -- Environmentalists are criticizing a decision by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to order a study of the practicality of eventually converting a chemical weapons incinerator in Utah into a conventional munitions incineration facility, rather than simply closing the plant down in the 2005 round of base closures as DOD had recommended.
Defense Environment Alert -- A proposed Defense Department rule for revitalizing bases slated for closure in the latest base realignment and closure round could prompt new disputes over land transfers and cleanup, according to redevelopment and local government sources, who say DOD's proposal goes too far in seeking to maximize property sales and lacks policy on how the cleanup process will be applied at these bases.
Defense Environment Alert -- The Defense Department is instituting a four-pronged strategy that aims to quickly transfer property from the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round to outside parties, relying heavily on environmental regulations that allow for early transfers prior to cleanup completion.
Defense Environment Alert -- Under broad energy legislation signed into law Aug. 8, the Defense Department and other federal agencies will be required to lower energy consumption in their buildings by an additional 2 percent each year and closely monitor their building energy use.
Defense Environment Alert -- Senators from Kentucky and Colorado are maintaining pressure on the Defense Department to fully fund the alternative chemical weapons destruction program, and not revert back to an earlier policy that effectively put the program in "caretaker status."
InsideEPA.com -- The Defense Department is urging the BRAC Commission to approve its recommended list of bases slated for realignment and closures, even if the cleanup costs at shuttered bases erase any future savings expected from the closure.
Defense Environment Alert -- Incoming Army and Air Force environment officials have assured Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Democrat Carl Levin (MI) that the military would coordinate with local communities in the 2005 BRAC round, in response to the lawmaker's questions about their plans to respect local wishes and fulfill cleanup responsibilities at BRAC sites.
Defense Environment Alert -- Severe encroachment from urban sprawl has prompted the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to consider shutting down a major Navy air base in Virginia and moving its assets to another location, despite Defense Department opposition to the proposed closure.
Defense Environment Alert -- The Army has launched an effort to expedite its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews at the multitude of installations that will undergo closure or realignment if the 2005 base realignment and closure round is approved, while making sure the reviews fully meet legal standards, according to Army sources.
Defense Environment Alert -- Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) and other public officials are alleging the Defense Department failed to sufficiently consider the environmental impacts of closing or realigning bases as one of several arguments aimed at convincing base closure commissioners to reverse recommendations by DOD to shutter bases in their communities.
Defense Environment Alert -- The Defense Department is defending its commitment to safety at its alternative chemical weapons destruction facilities, despite department cost caps that four key senators say jeopardize the safe, quick disposal of chemical weapons at the program's two sites.
Defense Environment Alert -- A top Pentagon environment official says he hopes to continue moving the Defense Department and services beyond environmental compliance into a mindset of making department-wide environmental improvements.
Defense Environment Alert -- The Defense Department's fiscal year 2006 budget request for the chemical weapons destruction program earmarks nearly all of the $1.4 billion on operations and maintenance at operating or constructed destruction plants.