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[Pages H3771-H3772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FUND CLEAN-UPS FOR CLOSED MILITARY BASES
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this week, with the consideration of the
defense authorization legislation and the military quality of life
appropriation, Congress should deal with the hidden issue behind base
closure: The toxic legacy of unexploded bombs and hazardous pollution
left behind on our military bases.
This is part of a much larger problem. The Defense Science Board has
reported that unexploded bombs contaminate an area bigger than the
States of Maryland, and Massachusetts combined.
One out of ten Americans live within 10 miles of a former or current
military site that contains hazardous waste identified for clean-up
under the Federal Super Fund programs. Indeed, 34 bases shut down since
1988 are still on the EPA Super Fund lists of worst toxic waste sites.
Ten of these sites have groundwater mitigation contaminants that are
not fully under control. One of the worst examples that comes to mind
is the Massachusetts Military Reservation, a source of perchlorate, a
toxic chemical, has contaminated 70 percent of Cape Cod's water supply,
and more than 1,000 unexploded bombs have been discovered, some less
than a half a mile from an elementary school.
Former military installations with unexploded bombs are located in
hundreds of communities across the country. And this has serious
consequences. The most tragic example was an unexploded bomb that
killed two 8-year-old boys and injured a 12-year-old friend while they
were playing in their San Diego neighborhood, the site of the former
32,000 acre Camp Elliot, used as a training site during World War II.
In Texas, South Carolina, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and
even here in Washington D.C., developers have built residential and
business projects on land that has not been fully cleared of unexploded
bombs.
Since I have been in Congress, three times fire fighters have had to
be pulled out of the woods, in Alaska, Texas and Colorado, because the
heat from the forest fire was detonating bombs.
Now, closed military bases can present significant opportunities for
community assets. The former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver has
generated an estimated $4 billion in economic activity for that region.
With careful planning, the facility made the successful transition to
civilian use, including 4,500 new homes and more than a square acre of
park land, two community colleges and other schools.
Glenview, Illinois, which lost its Naval Air Station in 1993, is
another example that is now home to office space, retail stores,
residences, golf course, park land and a train station. That has
created 5,000 jobs and put another $1.5 billion into that local
economy.
Yet the reality for communities facing BRAC now, according to the
GAO, is that more than a quarter of the bases previously closed have
not been cleaned up and transferred. And the main impediment is the
bombs and chemical pollution.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to no longer be missing in
action. When we look at like Fort Ord, closed in 1991, and after a
decade of redevelopment only 25 percent of its transformation plan has
been completed, in large measure because it has not been able to deal
with the clean-up of the site.
So far the Army has cleared just 5 percent of the base's firing
range. And they have already unearthed 8,000 live shells, in a job at
this rate that could take 20 years.
Our communities deserve better. It is time for us in Congress to no
longer be missing in action. We should do two things this week. First
we should not pass the defense authorization bill without amending it
to require that the military plan and budget to clean up the military
bases that it has already closed, before starting a new round of BRAC.
Second, in the military quality of life bill, we should allocate
funds to clean up unexploded bombs and dangerous pollution. To clean up
the unexploded bombs just in the 1988 round would cost $69 million,
clearly within our capacity. Indeed, I would argue that we
[[Page H3772]]
ought to allocate the full $626 million to clean up all of the
unexploded bombs and dangerous pollution in these sites.
We have an obligation to make sure that we follow through on the
pledges to these commitments for the military to clean up after itself,
and it is Congress's job to make sure it happens.
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