Defense Environmental Restoration Program

The toxicological profiles are developed in response to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 (Public Law 99-499) which amended the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA or Superfund). Section 211 of SARA also amended Title 10 of the U. S. Code, creating the Defense Environmental Restoration Program. Section 2704(a) of Title 10 of the U. S. Code directs the Secretary of Defense to notify the Secretary of Health and Human Services of not less than 25 of the most commonly found unregulated hazardous substances at defense facilities. Section 2704(b) of Title 10 of the U. S. Code directs the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to prepare a toxicological profile for each substance on the list provided by the Secretary of Defense under subsection (b). 

DOD. 1995. Defense environmental restoration program Annual report to congress for fiscal year 1994, March 31, 1995. Washington, DC. U.S. Department of Defense (available at http //www.dtic.dla.mil/envirodod/derpreport/toc.html). 

Military installations are similar to small cities in terms of population, industrial activities, and some types of contaminated sites. However, some cover an area larger than a small state. DOD has operated industrial facilities on its installations for several decades that have generated, stored, recycled, or disposed of hazardous wastes. Many of these activities have contaminated the nearby soil and groundwater. To study and clean up contaminated sites, DOD established the Installation Restoration Program (IRP) in 1975. In 1984, the IRP was made part of the Defense Environmental Restoration Program. 

The Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) also provides funding for Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS), which allows the state and local regulators to hire additional persoimel to oversee cleanup. 

Military environmental cleanup is heavily controlled by the accountants. This is partly due to the fact that the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) sounded like a permissive budgetary authorization instead of the extension of CERCLA, which it is. State and local governments were only authorized to receive payment for a specific set of functions. This list is too restrictive to promote adequate oversight. 

This case study is also a success story on how a local government can demand an environmental cleanup of a chemical weapons site, even after a no further action (NOFA) decision had been made by the Army and the EPA. It also confirms the wisdom of Congress in creating the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP), so that a state or local government (the District of Columbia, in this case) could hire people to oversee the military s work. 

The District of Columbia was concerned that the failure to hilly inform the community regarding the arsenic contamination and the possibility of buried chemical containers and ordnance increases the risk of contact through certain ordinary homeowner activities such as vegetable gardens and excavations. Arsenic is on the Community Right to Know List. The District was concerned with apparent violations of 10 U.S. Code Section 2705(a)(1) by experts who should have been familiar with the Defense Environmental Restoration Program requirements. 

Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program chemical surety materials chemical weapons Chemical Weapons Convention U.S. Department of the Army Pam Department of the Army Pamphlet Defense Environmental Restoration Program Department of Health and Human Services deoxyribonucleic acid U.S. Department of Defense U.S. Department of Energy Defense Technical Information Center effective concentration producing a response in 50% of the test animals... 

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