U S Government Accountability Office (G
Published: 2013-06
Total Pages: 22
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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to clean up environmental damage on DOD-owned property, focusing on: (1) cleanup costs at contaminated facilities; and (2) the DOD approach for sharing cleanup costs between the government and other parties. GAO found that: (1) environmental cleanup at DOD government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) plants and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal will generally take longer and cost about $3 billion, 70 percent more that DOD reported; (2) liability for cleanup falls on a variety of potentially responsible parties, including facility operators and generators of hazardous substances; (3) each of the services and the Defense Logistics Agency has a different policy on cost-sharing for environmental cleanups; (4) Environmental Protection Agency policy states that status as a GOCO operator does not shield a contractor from environmental liability; (5) the military services have not requested that GOCO operators share in the cost of cleaning up past contamination; (6) cleanup is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers at former defense sites and former GOCO facilities sold to the private sector; and (7) a contribution of about $250 million has been obtained from the lessee at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.