Justice Dept. Says Pentagon Must Comply With EPA Cleanup Orders

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/04/AR2008120403653.html?hpid=sec-nation


The Justice Department dealt a blow to the Pentagon this week, saying it has no legal authority to resist orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade in Maryland and two other military sites that have been contaminated by chemicals.

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The cleanup agreements drafted by the EPA for nine other sites contain "extensive provisions" that Pentagon officials said were unacceptable. But Bradbury wrote that the EPA had the legal authority to demand additional terms.

The letter was celebrated by critics of the Pentagon, the nation's largest polluter.

(THE NATION'S LARGEST POLLUTER0

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The EPA issued "final orders" to the Pentagon more than a year ago to clean up Fort Meade, McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. Final orders are the agency's most potent enforcement tool. If a polluter does not comply, the agency usually can go to court to force action and can impose fines up to $28,000 a day.

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But some are skeptical that the Pentagon will sign the agreements with the EPA and comply anytime soon.

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In dealing with cleanup efforts, some military branches have been more cooperative than others. The Navy has signed cleanup agreements for all of its Superfund sites, whereas the Air Force has not signed one in 14 years.

Superfund sites are not the only Pentagon environmental problem. It has about 25,000 contaminated properties spread among all 50 states, and it will cost billions and take decades to clean them up.
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bring the troops home - teach them the ways of HAZMAT - and have them clean up the damn toxic mess they have made.

[glowing]

1. Your sollution sounds like a good plan to me.