Environmental Contamination: Information on the Funding and Cleanup Status of Defense Sites
Abstract
Under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP), the Department of Defense (DoD) is responsible for cleaning up about 5,400 sites on military bases that have been closed under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, as well as 21,500 sites on active bases and over 4,700 formerly used defense sites (FUDS), properties that DoD owned or controlled and transferred to other parties prior to October 1986. The cleanup of contaminants, such as hazardous chemicals or unexploded ordnance, at BRAC bases has been an impediment to the timely transfer of these properties to parties who can put them to new uses. The goals of DERP include the following: (1) reducing risk to human health and the environment, (2) preparing BRAC properties to be environmentally suitable for transfer, (3) having final remedies in place and completing response actions and, (4) fulfilling other established milestones to demonstrate progress toward meeting program performance goals. This testimony is based on prior work and discusses information on how DoD allocates cleanup funding at all sites with defense waste, and BRAC cleanup status. It also summarizes other key issues that GAO has identified in the past that can impact DoD's environmental cleanup efforts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 17, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA556907
Entities
People
- Antoinette Capaccio
- Anu Mittal
- Elizabeth Beardsley
- John Smith
- Vincent Price
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office