FFERDC Principles

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

Posting from Lenny Siegel <lsiegel>

FFERDC RELEASES PRINCIPLES

[WARNING: THIS IS A LONG FILE!]

 The Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue 
Committee has released its 14-point "Principles for Environmental 
Cleanup of Federal Facilities." Crafted carefully in a series of 
meetings this year, the Principles reflect broad agreement among the 
constituencies that make up this official EPA advisory committee - 
Federal agencies, including EPA and the Defense and Energy Departments; 
representatives of state Attorneys General and environmental 
regulators; Indian nations; and public representatives from 
environmental justice groups, other community organizations, and labor 
unions. Only one of the 50 members of the Committee declined to sign.

 The Principles serve three functions:

1) They send a message to Congress and the White House that there is 
broad agreement that the Federal government has an obligation to clean 
up after itself. Key players, representing Federal polluters, 
regulators, and impacted communities are working to improve the cleanup 
process, to deal with budgetary realities without abandoning the goals 
written into the nation's environmental laws.

2) The Principles represent a bargain between Federal polluters and the 
people who oversee their cleanup. Other stakeholders are willing to 
participate in risk-based priority-setting schemes if the limitations 
of risk analysis are recognized and other significant factors are 
considered in determining when and how to carry out cleanup activities.

3) They are building blocks for the Committee's final report, which it 
hopes to complete this year. In that report the Committee will address 
in greater detail mechanisms for priority-setting as well as 
improvements in stakeholder involvement, with a focus on the role of 
communities of color and of local government.

 The FFERDC's February, 1993 "Interim Report" has been credited 
with many improvements in the Federal government's approach to clean up 
- such as the formation of Site-Specific/Restoration Advisory Boards. 
However, the armed services- as distinguished from the Defense 
Environmental Security office - the environmental justice movement, and 
local government officials were not represented on the panel.

 The following principles will be supplemented in October by 
explanatory text, drafts of which have been discussed by the Committee 
but which had not yet been finalized by the conclusion of its early 
August meeting.

 For a formatted hard copy version, contact Sven-Erik Kaiser at 
U.S. EPA (202/260-5138) or The Keystone Center Science and Public 
Policy Program (970 or 303/468-5822).

 Lenny Siegel
 Member, FFERDC


PRINCIPLES

for

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP OF
FEDERAL FACILITIES

Prepared By

The Federal Facilities Environmental
Restoration Dialogue Committee

August 2, 1995

This document is the result of the work of the Federal Facilities Environmental 
Restoration Dialogue Committee, a federal advisory committee chartered by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency and facilitated by The Keystone Center. 

For additional copies of this report, please contact:

Sven-Erik Kaiser or The Keystone Center
Federal Facilities Restoration Science & Public Policy Program
 and Reuse Office P.O. Box 8606
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Keystone, CO 80435
401 M Street (5101) 970-468-5822
Washington, DC 20460
202-260-5138
PRINCIPLES for
ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP of FEDERAL FACILITIES

The Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee (hereafter referred to
as the Committee) believes that an overall philosophy of cooperation must permeate the
cleanup process given the extraordinary challenge of the problem. In recent years, federal
facility environmental cleanup decision making has begun to evolve into a dynamic set of
interdependent relationships and partnerships that are premised on trust, as contrasted with
past relationships that have largely been adversarial in nature. This is in part the result of
opening up the decision-making process to greater and more meaningful stakeholder
involvement, as well as improving relationships between regulated and regulatory agencies. 
However, these relationships are still fairly tenuous and fragile. Any effort to dismantle the
programmatic and funding basis that provides the foundation for this cooperative orientation
will likely result in setbacks to actually accomplishing the mission of cleaning up
environmental contamination at federal facilities.

The following fourteen principles represent an agreement on recommendations and findings
regarding federal facility environmental cleanups amongst 49 of the 50 members of the
Committee. This document is being released now in order to be of benefit at this critical
juncture of policy making on federal facility cleanup matters and to provide a stepping stone
for the Committee in its efforts to produce a Final Report before the end of 1995. 

Committee members represent many of the diverse interests that are affected by federal
facility cleanup actions. The Committee is a federally chartered advisory committee for
which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) serves as the chartering agency. 
The Committee also includes participation from: the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense,
Agriculture, and the Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; as well as from state, tribal and local
governments; and numerous other national, regional and locally based environmental,
community, environmental justice, and labor organizations (see attachment for a list of
Committee members). The members of the Committee participate as individuals, not as
official representatives of their organizations or agencies.

All Committee members agree that the protection of human health and the environment is of
utmost importance. Having agreed to this common goal, the Committee came together to
address the reality of national budgetary problems in recognition that cleanup of federal
facilities needs to occur over time and requires the setting of priorities. Thus, the goal of the
Committee is to develop consensus policy recommendations aimed at improving the process
by which federal facility environmental cleanup decisions are made, such that these decisions
reflect the priorities and concerns of all stakeholders. The Committee believes that the
principles described below will help serve this goal.

These principles are designed to be complementary and not mutually exclusive. They are
listed here in an order that the Committee believes strengthens the mutually reinforcing
nature of the principles rather than in an order of priority.

1. Nature of the Obligation -- The federal government has caused or permitted
 environmental contamination. Therefore, it has not only a legal, but an ethical and
 moral obligation to clean up that contamination in a manner that, at a minimum,
 protects human health and the environment and minimizes burdens on future
 generations. In many instances, this environmental contamination has contributed to
 the degradation of human health, the environment, and economic vitality in local
 communities. The federal government must not only comply with the law; it should
 strive to be a leader in the field of environmental cleanup, which includes addressing
 public health concerns, ecological restoration, and waste management.

2. Sustained Commitment to Environmental Cleanup -- The federal government must
 make a sustained commitment to completing environmental cleanups at its facilities at
 a reasonable and defensible pace that is protective of human health and the
 environment and allows closing federal facilities to return to economic use as
 promptly as possible.

3. Environmental Justice -- The federal government has an obligation to make special
 efforts to reduce the negative impacts of environmental contamination related to
 federal facility activities on affected communities that have historically lacked
 economic and political power, adequate health services, and other resources. 

4. Consistency of Treatment between Federal Facilities and Private Sites -- Federal
 facilities should be treated in a manner that is consistent with private sector sites,
 especially in terms of the application of cleanup standards.

5. Cleanup Contracting -- Federal facility environmental cleanup contracts should be
 managed as efficiently as possible by using contract mechanisms that specify,
 measure, and reward desired outcomes and efficiencies rather than simply reimburse
 for effort or pay for an end product. Federal agencies should strive to ensure that
 cleanup contracts and employment opportunities benefit local communities,
 particularly those that are lacking economic resources and have been disadvantaged by
 contamination. Contractors and agencies responsible for cleanup should work in
 partnership with local communities to achieve cleanup goals.

6. Fiscal Management -- Funding mechanisms for cleanup should provide flexibility in
 the timing of expenditures and ensure that cleanup activities are conducted in a
 manner that is as efficient as possible. 

7. Interdependent Decision-Making Roles and Responsibilities -- Numerous
 institutions and people play very distinct and important roles in the decision making
 process for federal facility cleanups. These include: facility level managers, national
 program managers, financial officers, and cabinet officials within the agencies
 responsible for conducting the cleanup; federal, state and tribal regulators; tribes as
 sovereign nations; local governments; local, state, tribal, and federal health officials;
 public stakeholders; and the President, Office of Management and Budget, and
 Congress. These roles are highly interdependent, reflecting both the site-specific and
 national dimensions of the federal facility environmental cleanup problem. The
 decision-making process must ensure that all of these roles are preserved and balanced
 if our nation is to complete the mission of cleaning up federal facilities in an efficient,
 equitable, and timely manner.

8. The Role of Negotiated Cleanup Agreements -- Negotiated cleanup agreements in
 many instances play a critical role both in setting priorities at a site and providing a
 means to balance the respective interdependent roles and responsibilities in federal
 facilities cleanup decision making.

9. Consideration of Human Health Risk and Other Factors in Federal Facility
 Environmental Cleanup Decision Making -- Human health is an important and well
 established factor that should continue to be a primary consideration in federal facility
 cleanup decision making, including setting environmental cleanup priorities and
 enforceable milestones. However:

 a) Risk assessments and other analytical tools used to evaluate risks to human
 health (including non-cancer as well as cancer health effects) all have scientific
 limitations and require assumptions in their development. As decision aiding
 tools, risk assessments should only be used in a manner that recognizes those
 limitations and assumptions. Moreover, risk assessments ought not be used by
 any party as a basis for unilaterally setting aside legal requirements that
 embody public health principles and other important societal values.

 b) In addition to human health risk, other factors that warrant consideration
 include:

 ~ cultural, social, and economic factors, including environmental justice
 considerations; 
 ~ short term and long term ecological effects and environmental impacts
 in general, including damage to natural resources and lost use;
 ~ making land available for other uses;
 ~ acceptability of the action to regulators, tribes, and public stakeholders;
 ~ statutory requirements and legal agreements;
 ~ life cycle costs;
 ~ pragmatic considerations, such as the ability to execute cleanup projects
 in a given year, and the feasibility of carrying out the activity in
 relation to other activities at the facility; and
 ~ overall cost and effectiveness of a proposed activity.

 The Committee believes that fiscal constraints do not justify failing to take actions to
 protect human health and environment, but may result in the need to set priorities
 about what cleanup actions can occur in any given year.

10. The Importance of Pollution Prevention and Pollution Control Activities --
 Effective pollution prevention and pollution control activities are essential to prevent
 future environmental cleanup problems. Therefore, in carrying out their mission,
 federal agencies should view such activities as a cost of doing business and fully
 comply with environmental laws and regulations that are designed to accomplish these
 objectives. 

11. The Role of Future Land Use Determinations in Making Cleanup Decisions --
 Reasonably anticipated future land uses should be considered when making cleanup
 decisions for federal facilities, provided that at the time of any land transfer there are
 adequate safeguards to protect land holders, those who will receive or lease the land,
 and surrounding communities. The communities that are affected by federal facility
 cleanups, along with their local governing bodies and affected Indian Tribes, should
 be given a significant role in determining reasonably anticipated future use of federal
 property that is expected to be transferred, and in how future use determinations will
 be used in making cleanup decisions.

12. The Role of Studies in the Cleanup Process -- The identification and
 characterization of contamination and the evaluation of health impacts on human
 populations are essential parts of the cleanup process. Efforts to streamline the
 cleanup process should focus on reducing paperwork and moving away from
 adversarial relations toward cooperation, not the arbitrary capping of funding for
 studies. 

13. The Need for a Systematic Approach to Decision Making and Priority Setting --
 Federal facility priority setting decisions should be made in a manner that recognizes
 their interconnectedness to other environmental problems. 

14. Stakeholder Involvement -- Public stakeholders and local governments historically
 have not been involved adequately in the federal facility cleanup decision making and
 priority setting process. Agencies responsible for conducting and overseeing cleanup
 and related public health activities must take steps to address this problem, with the
 overall goal of ensuring that federal facility cleanup decisions and priorities reflect a
 broad spectrum of stakeholder input from affected communities including indigenous
 peoples, low income communities, and people of color. Like pollution prevention and
 pollution control measures, meaningful stakeholder involvement has in many instances
 resulted in significant cleanup cost reductions. It should therefore not only be
 considered as a cost of doing business but as a potential means of efficiently
 determining and achieving acceptable cleanup goals.