[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5172 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5172

To improve the effectiveness of Department of Defense programs for the 
  remediation of unexploded ordnance on former defense sites, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 25, 2006

Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Farr, Mr. Pallone, Mr. McDermott, and 
  Mr. Case) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To improve the effectiveness of Department of Defense programs for the 
  remediation of unexploded ordnance on former defense sites, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Military Range 
Legacy Act of 2006''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec.  1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec.  2. Definitions. 
Sec.  3. Department of Defense implementation of requirements regarding 
                            unexploded ordnance, discarded military 
                            munitions, and munitions constituents.
Sec.  4. Wide-area assessment of suspected UXO sites.
Sec.  5. Detection instrument technology research.
Sec.  6. Single Munitions Response Program.
Sec.  7. Inventory. 
Sec.  8. Public database of incidents involving unexploded ordnance or 
                            discarded military munitions.
Sec.  9. Sense of Congress regarding procurement and use of munitions.
Sec.  10. Report on defense site cleanup at military installations 
                            closed or realigned under base closure law.
Sec.  11. Comptroller General study on adequacy of funding, staffing, 
                            and organization of military munitions 
                            response program.
Sec.  12. Comptroller General study on defense land management and 
                            transfer.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) The term ``unexploded ordnance'' has the meaning given 
        such term in sections 101(e)(5) of title 10, United States 
        Code.
            (2) The terms ``defense site'', ``discarded military 
        munitions'', and ``munitions constituents'' have the meanings 
        given such terms in sections 2710(e) of such title.
            (3) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Defense.
            (4) The term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means 
        the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives 
        and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IMPLEMENTATION OF REQUIREMENTS REGARDING 
              UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE, DISCARDED MILITARY MUNITIONS, AND 
              MUNITIONS CONSTITUENTS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense should 
fully implement, within the shortest possible time-frame, all of the 
requirements of--
            (1) chapter 160, United States Code, related to all 
        previous Congressional directives related to the inventorying, 
        characterization, remediation, and management of explosive and 
        related risks with respect to unexploded ordnance, discarded 
        military munitions, and munitions constituents at defense 
        sites; and
            (2) section 313 of the National Defense Authorization Act 
        for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107; 10 U.S.C. 2706 note) 
        related to the assessment of environmental remediation of 
        unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, and 
        munitions constituents at defense sites.

SEC. 4. WIDE-AREA ASSESSMENT OF SUSPECTED UXO SITES.

    Section 2710 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(f) Wide-Area Assessment.--(1) The Secretary shall establish a 
program (to be known as the `wide-area assessment program') to conduct 
an assessment of formerly used defense sites that are known or 
suspected to contain unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, 
or munitions constituents using archival searches of existing records, 
visual site inspections, airborne wide-area screening, and related 
technologies, for the purpose of delineating which areas within those 
sites do not contain unexploded ordnance and discarded military 
munitions.
    ``(2) The wide-area assessment program shall be completed by the 
end of the fifth complete fiscal year beginning after the date of the 
enactment of the Military Range Legacy Act of 2006.
    ``(3) There is authorized to be appropriated a total of 
$1,000,000,000 during fiscal years 2007 through 2011 to carry out the 
wide-area assessment program. Amounts appropriated pursuant to this 
authorization of appropriations shall remain available until expended.
    ``(4) The Secretary shall include as part of the annual inventory 
and site-prioritization list required by subsection (c) a review of the 
progress of the wide-area assessment program.''

SEC. 5. DETECTION INSTRUMENT TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH.

    (a) Research Program Required.--The Secretary shall establish a 
program for the research, development, testing, and evaluation of 
unexploded ordnance detection instrument technology. The research shall 
be done in consultation with appropriate munitions developers in order 
to encourage the development of complementary munitions and detection 
technologies.
    (b) Research Approaches.--The Secretary may carry out the program 
through--
            (1) grants, contracts or other financial arrangements in 
        accordance with other applicable law to private companies, 
        academic and research institutions, or other appropriate 
        nongovernmental entities; or
            (2) by utilizing an existing Federal agency, laboratory or 
        research entity, as appropriate.
    (c) Application of Technology to Detection of Improvised Explosive 
Devices.--Up to 10 percent of the total amount appropriated to carry 
out the program may be obligated for research into applying unexploded 
ordnance detection instrument technology to the detection of improvised 
explosive devices in theaters of combat.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011 to 
carry out the program. Amounts appropriated pursuant to this 
authorization of appropriations shall remain available until expended.
    (e) Technology Transfer.--The Secretary shall review impediments to 
the transition of new unexploded ordnance detection instrument 
technologies to regular operation in remediation programs and the 
transfer of such technologies to private companies involved in the 
detection of unexploded ordnance. The Secretary shall conduct the 
review in consultation with appropriate private companies and Federal 
contracting agencies and submit, not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, a report to the appropriate congressional 
committees describing efforts to improve the transfer of such 
technology.

SEC. 6. SINGLE MUNITIONS RESPONSE PROGRAM.

    (a) Program Manager.--Subsection (k) of section 2701 of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(k) UXO Program Manager.--(1) The Secretary of Defense shall 
establish a program manager who shall serve as the single point of 
contact in the Department of Defense for policy and budgeting issues 
involving the characterization, remediation, research and management of 
military munitions response at defense sites (as defined in section 
2710 of this title).
    ``(2) The program manager shall be the single point of contact for 
military departments and defense agencies with munitions response 
responsibilities. The program manager shall report to the Assistant 
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Environment, Safety, and 
Occupational Health).
    ``(3) The program manager shall establish an independent advisory 
and review panel that may include representatives of the National 
Academy of Sciences, nongovernmental organizations with expertise 
regarding unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, or 
munitions constituents, the Environmental Protection Agency, States (as 
defined in section 2710 of this title), and tribal governments. The 
panel shall report annually to Congress on progress made by the 
Department of Defense to address unexploded ordnance, discarded 
military munitions, or munitions constituents at defense sites and make 
such recommendations as the panel considers appropriate.
    ``(4) The program manager shall be responsible for the execution of 
the funds appropriated with regard to the program element established 
pursuant to section 2703(b) of this title and for carrying out the 
program element for ordnance remediation.''.
    (b) Military Munitions Response Account.--Section 2703 of such 
title is amended--
            (1) by inserting at the end of subsection (a) the following 
        new paragraph:
            ``(6) An account to be known as the `Military Munitions 
        Response Account'.''; and
            (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following 
        new subsection:
    ``(b) Program Element for Ordnance Remediation.--The Secretary of 
Defense shall establish a program element for remediation of unexploded 
ordnance (as defined in section 101(e)(5) of this title) and discarded 
military munitions and munitions constituents (as defined in section 
2710(e) of this title) within the account established under subsection 
(a)(6).''.

SEC. 7. INVENTORY.

    Section 2710 of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) and 
        inserting the following new paragraph:
    ``(1) The Secretary of Defense shall develop and maintain an 
inventory of defense sites that are known or suspected to contain 
unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, munitions 
constituents, or offshore chemical munitions.''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)(2), by adding at the end the 
        following new subparagraph:
            ``(I) The potential economic value of the site after 
        transfer of the defense site from military control.''.

SEC. 8. PUBLIC DATABASE OF INCIDENTS INVOLVING UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE OR 
              DISCARDED MILITARY MUNITIONS.

    Section 2710 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after subsection (f), as added by section 4, the following 
new subsection:
    ``(g) Public Database of Incidents Involving Unexploded Ordnance or 
Discarded Military Munitions.--(1) The Secretary shall establish and 
maintain a database of incidents and accidents since January 1, 1917, 
in which unexploded ordnance or discarded military munitions have--
            ``(A) been discovered by a person in the United States in 
        an area other than a defense site included in the inventory; or
            ``(B) caused harm or death to a person within the United 
        States.
    ``(2) The database shall be developed from a review of Department 
of Defense and other appropriate Federal and State records and media 
reports and include details of each incident and accident. The 
Secretary shall make the database available to the entities specified 
in subsection (c)(2) and the public in electronic and printed form.''.

SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PROCUREMENT AND USE OF MUNITIONS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of each of the 
military departments should--
            (1) develop methods to account for the full life-cycle cost 
        of munitions, including the impact of failure rate on the cost 
        of disposal, in procurement decisions; and
            (2) undertake a review of live-fire practices for the 
        purpose of reducing unexploded ordnance and munitions-
        constituent contamination without impeding military readiness.

SEC. 10. REPORT ON DEFENSE SITE CLEANUP AT MILITARY INSTALLATIONS 
              CLOSED OR REALIGNED UNDER BASE CLOSURE LAW.

    (a) Report and Strategy.--Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 
report containing the strategy of the Department of Defense to complete 
the environmental remediation of all military installations approved 
for closure or realignment under title II of the Defense Authorization 
Amendments and Base Closure and Realignment Act (Public Law 100-526; 10 
U.S.C. 2687 note). The report shall include an estimate of the amount 
of funds that will be necessary each fiscal year to complete the 
environmental remediation under the strategy.
    (b) Consultation.--The strategy shall be developed in consultation 
with interested persons in the locality of each installation covered by 
the report.
    (c) Funding Source.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the 
Secretary from funds in the Department of Defense Base Closure Account 
1990 not more than $1,000,000 to permit the Secretary to prepare the 
report and strategy.

SEC. 11. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON ADEQUACY OF FUNDING, STAFFING, 
              AND ORGANIZATION OF MILITARY MUNITIONS RESPONSE PROGRAM.

    (a) Study Required.--The Comptroller General shall conduct a study 
assessing the adequacy of the funding, staffing, and organization of 
the Military Munitions Response Program, an assessment of the 
mechanisms for accountability, reporting and monitoring of progress, 
and methods to reduce the length of time of munitions response 
projects.
    (b) Submission of Results of Study.--Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to Congress, the Secretary, and the advisory and review panel 
established by section 2701(k)(3) of title 10, United States Code, as 
amended by section 6, a report containing the results of the study 
conducted under subsection (a).

SEC. 12. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON DEFENSE LAND MANAGEMENT AND 
              TRANSFER.

    (a) Study Required.--The Comptroller General shall conduct a study 
assessing the effectiveness of current procedures and institutions for 
the management and transfer of former defense land. The study shall 
also include an assessment of the potential benefits and disadvantages 
of the establishment of--
            (1) a centralized Department of Defense office for land 
        management and transfer; or
            (2) a Federal Government Corporation for disposition of 
        Department of Defense land.
    (b) Submission of Results of Study.--Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to Congress and the Secretary a report containing the results of 
the study conducted under subsection (a).
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