Senate Democrats call out Defense on clean-up record
Environment and Public Works chairwoman criticizes department for shirking its duties regarding contaminated sites.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., criticized the Defense Department Thursday for trying to shirk its responsibility to clean up the department's contaminated sites.
"The DoD should not be able to place itself above the law by asking [OMB] to tell EPA to back off," Boxer said.
Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., called out the Defense Department for not entering into a Federal Facilities Agreement with EPA on establishing a timeline for cleanup at Fort Meade in Maryland.
Deputy Undersecretary for Defense of Installations and Environment Wayne Arny defended the department's performance, and noted that even without an FFA in place, it has stepped in and addressed immediate dangers. Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member James Inhofe, R-Okla., was supportive of the efforts, noting that of the 140 Defense Department sites listed on the Superfund list, 129 have FFAs in place. He added that an FFA was not "an accurate tool to measure the pace or progress of a clean-up."