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Show April 22, 1993 Hilltop Times 15 Earth Day celebration shows people care ciency and conservation throughout by TSgt. David P. Masko Air Force News Service - WASHINGTON The Air Force's leading environmentalist thinks the worldwide celebration of an "Earth Day" each year is just another reminder that people are becoming more concerned about the planet. Earth Day, today, calls for international cooperation in addressing the environmental issues today, said Gary Vest, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for environment, safety and occupational health. A goal of Earth Day is to recycle the thinking of people in terms of "decision making and the understanding of the environmental implications of what we do," Vest told Air Force News Service April 13. The call for people to be good environmental stewards is also a com- mitment shared by Air Force leadership. In January, former Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill A. McPeak said the Air Force would revise its policy directives and instructions governing the purchase, use and management of controlled ozone depleting chemicals. "The sooner we learn to live without these substances, the less likely we are to suffer a mission stoppage because they are not available, and the less we will contribute to the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer," said Rice and McPeak in a memorandum to Air Force commands. Vest said Air Force people continue to introduce programs for energy effi the year, and not just on Earth Day. One of the big differences between Earth Day 1970, when the environmental movement began, and Earth Day 1993 is that 23 years ago the event drew mostly Americans concerned about population growth, air and water pollution, he said. "Today, Earth Day draws people from all over the world who are concerned about the future of the planet." Earth Day 1970 also coincided with the passage by Congress of the National Environmental Policy Act, and the establishment of a formal environmental program in the Air Force. "We have today the policies, programs, guidance and methods across the board to deal with the environmental challenges of the future," Vest said. Vest sees the trend toward recycling and other ways to improve the environment as nothing new to the Air Force. He said the interesting thing about the Air Force's environmental budget for the past 20 years is that it has gotten larger and not smaller as the years go by. "Here's an Air Force that's substantially reducing in almost every aspect, but at the same time, it's an Air Force that is trending exactly in the opposite direction in terms of its commitment to the environment." The Air Force budget for environmental programs grew more than $1 billion from fiscal 1990 to 1992. In 1993, the Air Force is planning to spend more than $2 billion for cleanup of pollution from past operations, com-- SUrg III II EHl pliance, and prevention of future en- vironmental problems. Vest believes that if people are to survive the environmental crisis and maintain the Earth as a place fit for human life, large organizations like the Air Force must sharply reduce their dependence on chemical pollutants. "It would be absolutely irresponsible for us to be spending all this money for cleanup and compliance without really getting at the root cause," he said. "We don't want to continue to M create compliance or cleanup problems ... we want to have a pollution prevention program to help preserve the natural world." The Air Force environmental program includes more than 2,500 professionals who study areas such as sources of energy, conservation of resources, pollution of land, air and water, and the use of industrial chemicals in an attempt to find answers to how the Air Force can minimize its use of hazardous materials. Command key to AF environmental success Force's new Pollution Prevention Action Plan, which calls for reducing or eliminating the use of cleaning chemhazardous, toxic and icals. AFMC already has reduced its generation of hazardous waste from 19,614 tons in 1985 to 9,807 tons in 1992. During the conference, Hill AFB, Newark AFB, Ohio, and Air Plant 4, Fort Worth, Texas, briefed the audience on their innovative pollution prevention programs. by Deborah. Lansky AFMC Office of Public Affairs ozone-depletin- g AFB, Ohio (AFMC few weeks before today's a Only Earth Day celebration, Air Force Materiel Command's senior leaders gathered to commend and critique the current state of command environmental affairs. "The success or failure of the Air Force's environmental program depends on what AFMC does," said Setting the and the "We have, in AFMC, the capability Gary Vest, the Air Force deputy assistant secretary for the Air and health the standard set to for environment, safety and occupational responsibility y two-dawill AFMC said. conference. "What Yates a guest speaker at the accomplish Force," "How well we do in accomplishing our goals and in removing hazardous materials, the bad actors, challenges is largely dependent on our leadership from our current maintenance processes will set the and personal commitment," added AFMC comstage for removing them from use throughout the mander Gen. Ronald Yates, who headed this second entire Air Force." AFMC is responsible for complying with numerenvironmental gathering in three years. AFB, Ohio, ous federal, state and local environmental statutes Held last month at Wright-Pattersothe Commanders' Environmental Leadership Course and regulations. The Federal Facilities Compliance brass and civilians from Air Act, passed by Congress in October 1992, allows was host to top-levForce headquarters and AFMC. The conference regulators to inspect federal installations and levy identified both success stories and impediments to civil fines against the facility, and criminal penalties against federal employees for failure to comply success. with hazardous waste laws and regulations. The key to avoiding such penalties is our own EnRecurring themes vironmental Compliance Assessment and ManageThere were several major recurring themes: ment Program, said Col. Thomas Walker, director With cradle-to-grav- e responsibility for weapons of headquarters AFMC Environmental Managesystems, AFMC must integrate pollution preven- ment. This comprehensive program identifies potenmaintion into the design, development, acquisition, tial means problems such as improper labeling or storage using tenance and disposal phases. That hazardous of waste, and then takes action to remeenvironmentally benign construction materials, problems before formal notices of violation occur. revising Air Force technical orders that require the dyAFMC laboratories already are involved in enuse of toxic chemicals, and applying vironmental research, but Yates stressed the need electroplating, painting and other depot mainfor greater emphasis. Examples of current research tenance techniques. robotAFMC currently generates most of the Air include low volatile organic compound paints, a and aircraft replace paint stripping, Force's hazardous waste. It recently adopted the Air icswater jet WRIGHT-PATTERSO- N News service) standard n el non-hazardo- g ment program for Halon 1301, an fire suppressant. AFMC is responsible for the investigation and potential cleanup of 1,105 hazardous waste sites, of which more than half are National Priorities List sites, according to Jeff Mundey, chief of environmental restoration, headquarters AFMC. Sites on the NPL, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of the nation's most contaminated areas, require extensive and expensive investigative studies. The total number of sites also has increased since fiscal 1992 because of the discovery of new sites and the integration of Kirtland AFB, N.M. into the command. AFMC currently has finished more than 25 percent of its sites. ozone-depletin- High priority A high priority within AFMC is to exchange information on hazardous waste cleanup technologies, compliance techniques, and environmentally benign pollution prevention processes or products. "The key is finding out who's doing something it across smart and innovative, and said. Yates Air AFMC and the Force," . cross-feedin- g The overall message of the conference was enthusiastic, but realistic. "Looking at where we were 10 years ago, there is absolutely no comparison," Vest said. "In a relatively short time, the Air Force in traditional Air Force manner recognized it had a challenge, responded to that challenge and emerged as the unquestioned leader in the federal family on environmental matters. "But there's a bunch left to do," he added. "We are going to finish the cleanup program, stay in compliance and prevent pollution. The times are changing, our roles are changing, and the leadership has signed on." |