Environmental Cleanup Costs: NASA is Making Progress in Identifying Contamination, but More Effort is Needed.
Abstract
Like other entities, including federal agencies, NASA must comply with federal environmental laws, including the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RcEA) of 1976 and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and liability Act (CERCIA) of 1980, as amended. ECRA regulates the generation, transportation, storage, disposal, and cleanup of hazardous wastes. CERCLA creates a framework for carrying out cleanups, particularly for sites that have been abandoned and sites that pose the most severe environmental threat. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers RCRA and CERCLA, and it may authorize state agencies to implement all or part of RCRA responsibility. To carry out its responsibility, therefore, NASA needs to work with multiple regulators. In our 1991 report,2 we stated that NASA had not adequately implemented its policy to prevent, control, and abate environmental pollution. As a result of our 1991 report, NASA developed an environmental strategic plan and established an Environmental Management Division at the headquarters level. The environmental strategic plan includes a goal of remediating contaminated sites to protect human health and the environment as quickly as funds allow. To carry out this plan, NASA uses a decentralized management approach. Its field facility directors are responsible for day-to-day environmental matters, including remedial activities. The Environmental Management Division is the focal point for environmental matters. In our 1994 follow-up report, we stated that NASA'S environmental program still lacked implementation schedules and, if funding levels at that time continued, remedial activities would take longer than the 20 years NASA had predicted.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA327806
Entities
People
- David P. Marks
- Edwin J. Soniat
- Gary W. Kunkle
- Johnnie Phillips
- Patricia F. Hinnen
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office