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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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).