Military Munitions Dod Needs To Develop A Comprehensive Approach For Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites Report To The Honorable John D Dingell Ranking Minority Member Committee On Energy And Commerce House Of Representatives

Military Munitions: DOD Needs to Develop a Comprehensive Approach for Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

Handbook of Bioremediation: Physiological, Molecular and Biotechnological Interventions discusses the mechanisms of responding to inorganic and organic pollutants in the environment using different approaches of phytoremediation and bioremediation. Part One focuses specifically on inorganic pollutants and the use of techniques such as metallothionein-assisted remediation, phytoextraction and genetic manipulation. Part Two covers organic pollutants and consider topics such as plant enzymes, antioxidant defense systems and the remediation mechanisms of different plant species. This comprehensive volume is a must-read for researchers interested in plant science, agriculture, soil science and environmental science. The techniques covered in this book will ensure scientists have the knowledge to practice effective bioremediation techniques themselves. Provides a comprehensive review of the latest advances in bioremediation of organic and inorganic pollutants Discusses a range of different phytoremediation techniques Evaluates the role of genomics and bioinformatics within bioremediation

The battle is an old one: man versus nature. And in modern society, man includes the military. Machines. Chemicals. Who wins the battle and at what cost? This practical analysis of the conflict between national security requirements and environmental responsibility looks at just that. William Wilcox examines the most common environmental issues that the military faces during wartime and peacetime and provides an introduction to the legal authorities, including statutes, regulations, and executive orders, governing the application of environmental law to military activities.

For decades, the Department of Defense (DOD) has tested and fired munitions on millions of acres of operational ranges. These munitions contain various constituents such as lead, trinitrotoluene (TNT), and ammonium perchlorate salt (perchlorate) that are, in some instances, known or suspected of causing health effects such as damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, cancer, and interfering with thyroid function. Concerns about the potential cost to clean up munitions prompted Congress to require that DOD develop an estimate for what it would cost to clean up its operational ranges. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 required DOD to provide (1) a comprehensive assessment of unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, and munitions constituents at current and former DOD facilities; and (2) an estimate of the aggregate projected cost of remediation (cleanup) at operational ranges,1 stated as a range of costs, including a low and high estimate. As of April 2003, DOD identified 10,444 operational ranges located in the United States and its territories, with Army operational ranges accounting for 94 percent of the total. DOD estimated it would cost between $16 billion and $165 billion to clean up unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, and munitions constituents on these operational ranges. constituents on these operational ranges.

GAO-04-147 Military Munitions: DOD Needs to Develop a Comprehensive Approach for Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites

The estimated cost to the federal government of cleaning up environmental contamination, referred to as environmental liabilities, was $613 billion in fiscal year 2021. This is an increase from $465 billion in fiscal year 2017. DOD's fiscal year 2021 share of environmental liabilities was the second highest among federal agencies, at about $82 billion. Federal law authorizes DOD to identify, investigate, and clean up contamination from hazardous substances and military munitions that it caused on properties used for military purposes and that were conveyed out of DOD's jurisdiction prior to 1986. These types of contamination can harm both humans and the environment. . Among other objectives, this report (1) describes the scope and costs of cleaning up FUDS and the reliability of the estimates and (2) examines how DOD selects FUDS for cleanup. GAO recommends that DOD (1) develop guidance to weigh the relative risk between IRP and MMRP sites and (2) establish a relevant cleanup goal for the FUDS MMRP program.