[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14266]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               ORDNANCE AND EXPLOSIVE RISK MANAGEMENT ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, for over two centuries the United States 
has been the stage for military action in training, beginning with the 
Revolutionary War. As a result, bombs and shells that did not go off as 
intended litter the countryside. Unexploded ordnance is an issue that 
deserves great attention and priority by this Congress.
  It is difficult to find a congressional district across America that 
does not have a problem with unexploded ordnance. Well over 1,000 sites 
are known or suspected to be contaminated. They range from extremely 
remote areas in Alaska to dense urban environments such as Spring 
Valley here in Washington, DC, adjacent to the American University 
campus where the gentlewoman from Washington, D.C. (Ms. Norton) and I 
led a tour this spring.
  The number of acres within the United States contaminated with UXO is 
estimated at 20 million acres to perhaps 50 million acres or more. One 
of the most unsettling facts is that there is no accurate estimate. 
Even so, we know the price tag for cleaning this problem up is huge. 
According to the General Accounting Office in a report earlier this 
year, the Department of Defense estimates that its liability may be 
$100 billion or more just for cleaning up training ranges.
  Today, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Riley) and I are introducing 
the Ordnance and Explosive Risk Management Act to help the Department 
of Defense do its job. The bill would establish a single point of 
contact for policy and budgeting regarding former military ranges and 
other sites around the country. It puts someone in charge by 
establishing a program manager for UXO who is directly accountable to 
the Secretary of the Army.
  It requires an inventory of explosive risk sites at former military 
ranges. This provision requires the Department of Defense to complete 
and annually update an inventory it started as part of an earlier 
process and establishes criteria for site prioritization among these 
many sites that need our attention.
  The bill protects the public with the requirement of enhanced 
security measures at former military ranges and public awareness 
efforts regarding the dangers associated with these sites. It requires 
the Department of Defense to develop education and site security plans 
for former ranges in cooperation with property owners and other 
agencies.
  The broad interest in Congress has helped us shape this bill. The 
gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), who has been working with the 
Fort Ord cleanup for years, understands and has urged the provision in 
our bill that creates the separate Department of Defense account for 
the removal and cleanup. Because it is so fundamentally different, this 
provision enables everybody who cares to be able to follow the issue.
  One of the most important elements of our bill is a result of the 
experience of the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Riley) in dealing with 
the chemical demilitarization program. He feels strongly, and I agree, 
that it is important to have an independent panel to be able to look at 
the problems associated with cleaning up these contaminated sites. This 
advisory and review panel will include the National Academy of Science, 
nongovernmental organizations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
and representatives of the States. They will report annually to 
Congress on the progress made by the Department of Defense and make 
further recommendations for program improvements.
  I appreciate the contributions of people like the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Farr) and the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Riley). This 
is a problem that is not going away. At least 65 people have been 
killed as a result of accidents from this military waste. Recently, 
American University just filed a lawsuit against the United States for 
almost $100 million because of problems related to the contamination of 
that campus when it was used as a site for the development and testing 
of chemical weapons during World War I and still has not been cleaned 
up thoroughly.
  We have a responsibility in Congress to address this issue. I 
strongly urge my colleagues to join me in co-sponsoring this 
legislation, along with the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Riley), and 
make sure that this Congress is not missing in action when it comes to 
dealing with the consequences of environmental military contamination.

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