GAO says base cleanup could be sped up

The U.S. Government Accountability Office this week released a report that says environmental cleanup efforts on property at closed, partially closed and slated-to-close military bases, including two in Utah, could be sped up and that reporting of associated costs could be improved.

The two Utah bases singled out in the 50-page report are the Tooele Army Depot and its neighbor to the south, Deseret Chemical Depot. Although there is ongoing environmental cleanup work at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground and at Hill Air Force Base, neither Utah site has been pegged for any kind of closure during five rounds of base realignment and closure (BRAC) proceedings, which occurred in 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2005.

While the Deseret Chemical Depot is expected to be one of the more expensive cleanup sites in the country, the Tooele Army Depot is being held up as an example of how remediation efforts can coexist with new uses for former government property.

Remediation efforts that involve already closed areas of the Tooele Army Depot aren't expected to end until 2032, the GAO stated. That hasn't stopped the Army depot from the early transfer of about 1,600 acres now known as the privately held Utah Industrial Depot. The land was first deeded over to the city of Tooele, which in 1999 sold it to the industrial developer.

UID marketing director Mark Smith outlined how the Army has and continues to fulfill its obligation to clean areas now used by nearly 60 UID tenants.

"Everything that they said they'd do, they did," Smith said about the Army's efforts. "It's been just a good working relationship."

But in a Jan. 30 letter to Congress, the GAO said the cleanup of hazardous chemicals and unexploded ordnance on already closed or partially closed bases has been an "impediment" to the process of transferring "unneeded" property to other federal and non-federal agencies that could put the land to new uses.

The government's goal is to see that unneeded land is redeveloped toward the benefit of communities that are adversely affected by the BRAC process.

Regarding cost reporting, the GAO said Congress needs more "transparency and accountability in financial reporting and budgeting" during cleanup efforts.

According to Department of Defense data, cleanup costs of areas inside military bases identified in BRAC rounds prior to 2005 could reach $13.2 billion. More than three quarters of the almost 503,000 acres identified in the four BRAC rounds prior to the one in 2005 has been cleaned up and transferred to "other entities" for other uses.