[CPEO-MEF] DOD Cooperation Success Story

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

[This story comes via Jeff Swanson at Colorado Department of Public Health 
and the Environment. Aimee]
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Finally some good news about cooperation among DoD components.  There
was an incident involving unsecured UXO scrap at the Air Force's Former
Lowry Training Annex site today.  The Air Force and Corps/Omaha were
able to work together in true interagency cooperation to resolved the
situation safely, quickly, and cost effectively.  The incident was
resolved in hours!   All involved should be commended.


Here's the full story:
I was notified by the Air Force early this morning (3/28) about a UXO
scrap incident at the Former Lowry Training Annex (FLTA).  The Former
Lowry Training Annex is adjacent to the Former Lowry Bombing and Gunnery
Range (FLBGR) site.  The Air Force is responsible for UXO cleanup at the
Training Annex.  The Corps/Omaha is responsible for UXO cleanup of the
bombing range site.  The site is owned by the State Land Board.


Yesterday afternoon, Jim Anelle the Corps/Omaha Safety Specialist for
the FLBGR Range project, noticed the gate to the Training Annex site was
open.  He investigated and discovered that apparently some type of group
(gang) had broken into the building and had thrown stored UXO scrap
material all over the interior of the building and scattered it outside
the building.  Jim immediately notified Dennis Guadarrama, the Air
Force's FLTA project manager, of the situation.


The scrap was generated during the initial cleanup efforts at the 3500
acre site.  It had been inspected by the Luke AFB EOD Team in 1999 and
was being stored in the building pending completion of the clearance
project.  The UXO scrap contained many intact items which only an EOD
expert could positively identify as inert (see attached photos).  While
believed to be inert, this UXO scrap looks exactly like live ordnance
and could cause a major incident if recovered from the site by the
public.   The scrap needed to be collected, inspected, and secured
immediately.


The Air Force recognized that they needed to act immediately.  They
also were aware that the Corps had the necessary resources literally
across the street.  Dennis contacted Jerry Hodgson, Corps' FLBGR Project
Manager.  Dennis, Jerry, Jim and the FLBGR team (Stone and Webster,
Weston) were able to quickly reach agreement on how to address the
immediate concerns and safely secure the scrap.  The FLBGR team
mobilized at 1:00 PM this afternoon and was able to secure the scrap
without incident in a matter of hours.  The scrap is now secured and
will be managed and recycled with the FLBGR scrap.  The response was
completed for less that it would have cost the Air Force to mobilize a
team - Mission accomplished.


Remarkably, all of this occurred through the cooperation and leadership
of the Corps and Air Force PMs.  They recognized that immediate action
needed to be taken and got it done without incident.  I was fully
informed and aware of the response, but never had to get "involved".
 >From my perspective, complete success.


Jeff Swanson
	
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Aimee R. Houghton
Associate Director, CPEO
122 C Street NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC  20001-2109
tel: 202-662-1888; fax: 202-628-1825
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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