FYI
From: "Tara Thornton" <Tara@...
Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 16:20:32 -0000
From: "Tara Thornton" <Tara@...>
Subject: FYI

From: Barbara Elkus [mailto:barbara_elkus@...]
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 9:59 AM
To: DOD Environmental Exemptions list
Subject: [dod] Inside EPA: DOD Perchlorate Policy Raises Questions On
Water, Range Cleanups

From InsideEPA.com Main Page.


DOD Perchlorate Policy Raises Questions On Water, Range Cleanups

The Defense Department (DOD) has issued what may be its clearest
statement so far on how it plans to address extensive contamination
by perchlorate -- a component of rocket fuel and military munitions
and a naturally occurring chemical that has contaminated a slew of
waterbodies across the United States.

But at least one critic is raising concerns that the policy will not
ensure cleanups of operational ranges and contaminated waterbodies
that are not drinking water sources, leading to continuing disputes
at many contaminated sites.

In a long-awaited report to Congress on perchlorate contamination in
the Southwestern United States, DOD outlined a two-part approach to
addressing the issue. DOD released the report Sept. 20.

The report says that in the absence of EPA or states issuing a
drinking water standard or cleanup standard, the military is willing
to conduct necessary cleanups under Superfund law, or Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), when
a site-specific risk assessment demonstrates risks to human health
that exceed EPA's recently issued risk level, or reference dose (RfD).

Earlier this year, EPA set the RfD of 0.0007 milligrams per kilogram
of body weight per day based on a National Academy of Sciences study.
The study examined the extent to which perchlorate inhibits iodide
uptake into the thyroid gland, which EPA says poses a health threat
because impaired thyroid function can lead to developmental
disabilities in children and fetuses.

"The RfD for perchlorate will be used to evaluate the site-specific
human health risks that are considered when developing cleanup
criteria under CERCLA. Responses will occur on a case-by-case basis,
reflecting the individual circumstances of sites where perchlorate
contamination is found," the report says. In such cases, DOD would
determine whether the perchlorate contamination
presents "unacceptable risk to public health, safety, or the
environment," but it also pledges to consult with federal, state,
tribal and local authorities on the matter, according to the report.

DOD's commitment to conduct cleanups in the absence of a regulatory
standard appears to respond to earlier concerns by EPA and other
regulators that DOD would not conduct cleanups until the agency had
set a drinking water standard, a process that could take years.

DOD says that once EPA and states have established a regulatory
standard, "drinking water supplies with perchlorate detections
attributable to DOD activities that are deemed to present an
unacceptable risk to public health, safety, or the environment will
be remediated by applying the federal or state regulatory standard,
whichever is more stringent." DOD will incorporate applicable or
relevant and appropriate federal or state regulatory standards, once
they are established, into its cleanup program, the report promises.

The department would then integrate perchlorate remediation into its
existing cleanup programs, such as those for closed bases, known as
BRAC, other DOD cleanups covered by the Defense Environmental
Restoration Program (DERP), munitions and range planning and formerly
used defense sites (FUDS).

For perchlorate at operational ranges, DOD says it will rely on an
existing operational range assessment policy that focuses on
identifying and evaluating the release of perchlorate and other
munitions' constituents only if they are causing unacceptable impacts
off range. If a military assessment finds munitions constituents are
or may be migrating to off-range areas, the assessment "will provide
information vital to initiating a response under DOD's explosive
safety authorities, the DERP, and CERCLA," the report says.

But one environmentalist says the report raises a host of questions
about perchlorate cleanups. The source says it is unclear as to
whether DOD will apply emerging cleanup standards to sources of water
that are currently not used for drinking purposes. For example, the
source questions whether DOD will comply with California's anti-
degradation policy, which the state could invoke to require cleanup
of surface waters.

In addition, the environmentalist echoed concerns raised previously
by states and EPA that DOD's operational range assessment policy
fails to require adequate cleanup because it does not address the on-
range sources of contamination. "This will remain a debate, to be
sure, at `operational' ranges," the source says in an e-mail response
to questions. California EPA sources could not be reached for comment
at press time.

A DOD source says in an e-mail response to questions that remedies at
military sites will protect human health and comply with promulgated
standards. "State non-degradation policies will be reviewed to
determine if they are applicable or relevant and appropriate to
cleanup sites," the source says. And in terms of sampling at
operational ranges, on-going assessments "will assess for"
perchlorate and other munitions constituents, based on the type of
munitions used on the range, the source says.

The report responds to a congressional request contained in House
report language attached to the Fiscal Year 2004 Defense
Appropriations Act and details data on groundwater contamination in
Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, in particular areas served
by Colorado River water supplies. Under the report, DOD and EPA
conducted a study that provides perchlorate sampling data on 22 of 28
active, realigned or closed DOD facilities in the tri-state study
area. DOD did not sample the remainder of these because they lacked
either a DOD-related release or a complete human exposure pathway was
unlikely to exist, the report says.

Of the DOD facilities that tested for perchlorate in drinking water,
just one -- Yuma Proving Grounds, AZ -- was found to detect above
state advisory levels, DOD says. Six DOD facilities in the study had
perchlorate detections in groundwater, which reached as high as
30,700 parts per billion, found at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. In
addition, 13 FUDS in southern California will require a more in-depth
records search, DOD says in a press release on the report.

It also identified 10 industrial facilities in the tri-state study
area that detected perchlorate in groundwater, soil or drinking water
supplies.

The report is a "starting point for determining where perchlorate
detections have occurred" at both DOD and non-DOD industrial
facilities, the DOD source says. It showed that facilities with the
highest probability of perchlorate releases are those that have
manufactured, maintained or tested solid propellant for rocket or
missile motors, while live-fire testing areas had lower levels of
perchlorate detected, the source says.

While the final conclusions and text of the report are DOD's alone,
EPA commented on draft versions and assisted with its study
parameters, DOD says in the final report. An EPA source at press time
declined to comment on the report.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) was one of
a number of lawmakers interested in the report, but a spokesman for
his office says he has not yet focused on the results.









Date: October 3, 2005
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