Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. and others letter to Robert Livingston, June 19, 1995

£ongregg of tljc ШгШсЬ fetateg fflafrfjington, 3D C 20515 June 19, 1995 The Honorable Robert Livingston, Chairman Committee on Appropriations H-218 Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: We are writing to urge your support of the Administration's budget request for environmental cleanup at Department of Defense installations, specifically, the $1.6 billion requested for the Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA) and the $457 million requested for cleanup of military facilities slated for closure. Although representing less than one percent of the Pentagon's entire budget, these programs are of great consequence to communities in our districts. According to the Pentagon, contaminated sites are located at 1,722 installations, of which 107 are serious enough to warrant inclusion on the Superfund National Priority List (NPL). In many cases, the contamination represents a real threat to the public health and safety of those living in the communities that surround these facilities. Groundwater contamination, which often threatens local drinking water supplies, unexploded ordnance, and chemical warfare materials, are the most serious problems and the most expensive to remediate. NPL facilities also include hundreds of polluted lagoons, thousands of spill and disposal areas, contaminated buildings and waste treatment plants, and training areas for firefighting and aircraft accidents. Contaminants requiring cleanup include solvents, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, acids, explosive chemicals and pesticides. We are also concerned about the progress of cleanup of hazardous waste sites on installations slated for closure. In many cases, base reuse is an important issue. Many of our communities are looking forward to redevelopment of these sites, with the potential for the creation of new jobs. If cleanup actions are delayed by reductions in DOD funding, transfer of the property into local hands will be hindered and local economic recovery stalled. The Department of Defense estimates that overall cleanup costs will exceed $30