Military Base Closures: Role and Costs of Environmental Cleanup
Abstract
Near the end of its first session, the 109th Congress approved a new round of military base closures and realignments. As the Department of Defense (DoD) implements the new round, potential issues for the 110th Congress include the pace and costs of closing and realigning the bases and the impacts on surrounding communities. The disposal of surplus property has stimulated interest among affected communities in terms of how the land can be redeveloped to replace lost jobs. Environmental contamination can present a challenge to economic redevelopment if funding or technological constraints would limit the degree of cleanup needed to make the land safe for its intended use. Most of the land on bases closed under prior rounds has been cleaned up and transferred for redevelopment. However, some bases have yet to be cleaned up to an extent adequate for the planned land use. Bases closed under the 2005 round could face similar redevelopment delays if a community's preferred land use requires a costly and time-consuming degree of cleanup. This report explains cleanup requirements for the transfer and reuse of properties on closed bases, discusses property transfer status and cleanup costs on bases closed in prior rounds, and examines estimates of costs to clean up bases to be closed in the 2005 round to make these properties safe for civilian reuse.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 03, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA515546
Entities
People
- David M. Bearden
Organizations
- Library of Congress