Court decision clouds military property transfers.

A ruling by a federal district court judge in late August is expected to reverberate through other states involved in closing military bases and converting them to civilian use.

The decision, resulting from an environmental group's lawsuit, found that the Air Force violated environmental laws in 1991 when it used a long-term lease to transfer its Pease base in Portsmouth, N.H., to the state for redevelopment purposes.

The military has in the past used long-term leases as a way to avoid environmental cleanup requirements in site transactions, since these laws normally pertain only to contaminated land transferred through deeds. The Pease case eliminated this long-term lease escape route and created the possibility of similar legal battles at other bases being converted to commercial use.

Military facilities such as Bergstrom Air Force Base near Austin, Texas--selected for closure by the Defense Department and subsequently targeted for economic development by businesses--could be affected by the Pease decision. Like Pease, the Bergstrom property was transferred to commercial redevelopers through a long-term lease and lacks a definite cleanup schedule.

In light of the Pease decision, various interest groups have protested. Environmental leaders suspect that because Bergstrom's cleanup is guided by the demands of redevelopers, the economically viable portions of the base will be cleaned up at the expense of other areas with greater contamination. They say the most contaminated areas should get the highest cleanup priority, regardless of potential commercial value.

Members of the business community, on the other hand, are eager to redevelop the site, but worry that the Air Force's cleanup problems will slow efforts and encourage potentially crippling environmental lawsuits. All sides hope that the Air Force will set specific cleanup goals and schedules in an effort to avoid these problems.

The Pease situation arose when the base was ordered to close by March 1991. As required, the Air Force prepared an environmental impact statement addressing effects of the base's closure and redevelopment. It then transferred the land for use as a commercial airport to the Pease Development Authority (PDA) through a long-term lease. The Conservation Law Foundation, a citizens' environmental group, said the Air Force environmental statement did not address a number of issues including clean air requirements and public involvement. The foundation filed a citizens' suit against PDA, the Air Force and the EPA in March 1992, claiming that the transfer violated numerous environmental laws. District Judge Martin F. Loughlin concurred, but allowed the Pease redevelopment to continue. The Air Force is required to submit a more comprehensive environmental impact statement and to consider clean air requirements.