Re: Military's Attitude Towards Environmental Cleanup

["Theodore J. Henry" <thenry@umabnet.ab.umd.edu>]

Two quick points to be made.

1. Interim actions and other quicker approaches to remediation are
something to be considered - everyone is interested in saving money to
spend on other sites since there are more sites than money. The problem
is that this often results in less community participation. Once DOD and
the regulators accept that citizens must be brought in from the initial
meetings during site discovery so they may help direct priorities and
investigation/remediation, then the quicker approaches may be possible.
Of course noting that there are some instances where there will be no
quicker option.

2. The other point is the hurdles such as contracting regulations. If
there are such issues that are hindering clean-up and it would be best for
the installation and the community if they were changed, then I think it
is important for those involved in the process to inform communities of
these. In turn, I think it is important for active community members to
try to address such hurdles. Simply put, this idea is based on what I
have said to the IRP at APG numerous times. That is, if there is some
hurdle that is stopping the IRP from doing something the community wants,
then they need to inform the community so they can direct their energies
accordingly. If the community knows the facts, then they can help the IRP
acheive a common goal, if the community does not know what is stopping a
wanted action, then the IRP will be the focus of critism and efforts to
bring about the needed change.

 Obviously, Career/Pro is an important effort to monitor issues and
bring about community change in the different arenas. Beyond this there
needs to be more participation from other parties (DOD, the contractors,
regulators, and particularly elected officials) to address these problems
discussed in this forum.

 And yes, this plug was voluntary and unsolicited (Ha Ha).

Have a good day!

Ted Henry