Services Promote Pollution-Prevention Efforts.

Defense environmental programs take advantage of information technology

There are almost 12,000 contaminated sites at more than 700 active and recently-closed military bases. The Pentagon is by far the single biggest polluter in the United States. It will cost an estimated $30 billion to meet the Defense Department's cleanup requirements on the books today.

Environmental experts and managers from the military services converged at San Antonio, Texas, in late August--all seeking answers to the question: Can the services do more to prevent pollution and to manage hazardous waste?

At the 6th annual Joint Services Pollution Prevention and Hazardous Waste Management conference and exhibition, representatives from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps shared their success stories. The event was co-hosted by the U.S. Army Environmental Center and the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence.

An executive order issued by President Clinton in April 2000 required that an environmental-management system must be in place at all federal government facilities by 2005. Executive Order 13148 sent all the military services scrambling to put together comprehensive environmental plans.

"The business we're in generates a great deal of hazardous waste," said Frank Lotts, deputy director of logistics operations at the Defense Logistics Agency.

"The Navy is dedicated to the stewardship of our environment," said Capt. Michael Jaggard, acting executive director for acquisition and business management for the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.

"The Navy's environmental logistics challenge is to support readiness, ensure compliance, increase flexibility and reduce life cycle costs," said David Price, chief of shore and environmental quality for the Navy. The service is seeking a balance between environmental protection and readiness, he said.

The Navy was asked to comply with an executive order much earlier than the rest of the services, and are thereby thought by many to be "ahead of the curve." Executive Order 12856, the "Federal Compliance with Right-to-Know Laws and Pollution Prevention Guidance," required shore facilities to reduce toxic releases by 50 percent, and was slated to be accomplished by 1999.

The Navy has a P2 (pollution prevention) Afloat program, whose objective is to "develop techniques, methods and better management practices for use by the fleet to facilitate pollution prevention practices in daily operations and maintenance procedures."

According to the project's website, (http://www.dt.navy.mil/code60/code632/p2 programs/p2afloat/index.htm), the P2 Afloat Program attempts to effectively reduce shipboard use of hazardous materials, by using innovative products or processes.

The Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE), located at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, wants to work more closely with industry, said Lr. Col. David Hernandez, director of environmental contracting at AFCEE.

Maj. Kenneth Rogers, also of AFCEE, explained the benefits of a new computer program called "GEOBASE," which takes existing geospatial data and displays the information in a more user-friendly manner. The technology should help in resources management, archeological surveys and historic building analyses, he said. "All installations will have a common installation picture, and will have custom applications, such as crisis management."

The Marine Corps spends $124 million a year on projects related to environmental compliance, pollution prevention and conservation, according to Craig Sakai, head of the environmental management program at Marine Corps headquarters. The Marines also receive a portion of the Department of the Navy budget, which is used for environmental clean-up projects, he said.

One of the Marine Corps environmental programs is the Comprehensive Environmental Training and Education Program (CETEP). It seeks attain and maintain "full compliance with all applicable environmental requirements," and ensures that all personnel are properly trained in pollution prevention and environmental compliance.

The Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command has an industrial ecology center (JEC) located at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ. The office houses the Army Environmental Quality Basic Research and Development Program (EQBRD), which is a $4 million program that is "focused primarily on evaluating feasibility of early technology concepts for pollution prevention in the Army's industrial base," according to a spokesman. The IEC also serves as the program management office for the Defense Department's National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence.

The Picatinny Arsenal environmental division encompasses programs that develop corrosion prevention techniques, environmental research, coatings research and measures the effectiveness of environmental management systems.

The so-called "Green Bullet" is another Army-run program, a Defense Department initiative that seeks to eliminate the use of toxic materials, such as lead, in the manufacturing of ammunition. This program is administered through the Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) and covers small-caliber ammunition from 5.56 mm through .50 caliber. ND

Agencies Form Alliance to Fight Contamination

Elizabeth G. Book

The Joint Group on Pollution Prevention, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Hazardous Technical Information Services and the Defense Supply Center all work for the Defense Department to reduce pollution and manage hazardous waste.

The Joint Group on Pollution Prevention-partnering with the services and the office of Army acquisition pollution prevention, NASA's acquisition pollution prevention program, and the Defense Contract Management Agency-is working on a project to develop a hand-held laser system that will remove paint from aircraft components.

The project is called the portable laser coating removal system (PLCRS). If deployed, the system will eliminate the use of hazardous materials, such as methylene chloride, which is used today to take paint off military aircraft

The Army Corps of Engineers provides support to military and civilian environmental programs. The Hazardous Technical Information Services (HTIS) is under the Defense Logistics Agency. Located at the Defense Supply Center in Richmond, Va., it markets itself as a prime source of hazardous material and environmental information.

The HTIS provides Defense Department personnel with answers to questions regarding safety, storage, handling logistics, disposal and transportation. The group routinely answers questions, such as whether fluorescent bulbs can be placed in a dumpster as trash, or whether acids and bases can be stored next to one another. HTIS publishes a bulletin that has been available online since 1995, at http://www.dscr.dla.mil/this/this/htm.--Elizabeth G. Book

Environment-Friendly Products Marketed to Military

Elizabeth G. Book

Imtech America, an international company with offices in Ontario, Canada, and Little Rock, Ark., has developed a technology called "imbiber beads:" According to company president John Brinkman, imbiber beads are the only true absorbent currently available anywhere in the world for organic liquids, which includes gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), benzene toluene ethyl benzene xylene (BTEX), crude oil and solvents.

"Ninety-nine percent of the absorbents that the Defense Department uses are actually 'ad'sorbents," he said. He explained that an adsorbent relies upon a liquid that coats only the surface of the hazardous material. "For a product to be an absorbent, swelling must occur. The liquid will diffuse into the solid structure of the absorbing material, and that causes the absorbing material to swell. That is one of the features of the imbiber beads. Not only do the spherical beads swell, the liquid becomes a part of the solid structure. By using imbiber beads, you reduce the available surface area covered by the hazardous material, and dramatically reduce the rate of release of hazardous vapors being emitted."

lmtech has created several imbiber bead products, such as imbiber bead blankets, imbiber bead pillows and imbiber bead packets, all which can be used to wrap and absorb hazardous organic liquids so as to "capture and contain" spills from fueling areas, loading docks and storage facilities. The company also makes sand-blend imbiber beads, which can be sprinkled on an affected area to absorb waste. Last year, the technology was nominated by Pope Air Force Base, in North Carolina, for the White House "Closing the Circle" award.

The ChemFree Corporation, based in Nor-cross, Ga., has developed a device called a SmartWasher that employs water-based cleaners and microbial technology to safely clean oily, greasy parts. The SmartWasher uses a bioremediation process that "eats," oil and grease. According to Pat Bodelson, director of public sector marketing for ChemFree Corporation, wastewater from the SmartWasher can "go. right down the drain." He explained that, with proper maintenance, the solution does not need to be hauled away, because it is water-based. ChemFree holds the patent to the degreasing solution, called OzzyJuice, which is non-hazardous, non-caustic, and free of volatile organic compounds (VOC-free). Ozzyjuice will not dry, crack, infect, or discolor skin, he said.

Bio.Reaction Industries of Tualatin, Ore., is marketing a product called a BiosumpVent. According to company representative Greg Lloyd, the Bio.sumpVent is "a lightweight, modular biofiltration unit designed to meet the demands for odor control at lift stations, sewer vents and other small, contained processes in wastewater treatment that emit nuisance odors." The large vent's exterior is made of a "linear polypropylene" with a sealed lid that houses an internal framework to support adsorption and digestion of odorous compounds emanating from the wastewater collection sump, holding tank or lift station.

CH2M Hill, a consulting company based in Denver, Co., specializes in ecological "risk assessments," said Harry Ohlendorf, a senior environmental scientist. The company has completed several of these assessments at a number of Defense Department facilities, including Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Ak Ohlendorf said that CH2M Hill found that petroleum products were leaking from a pipeline into areas along a stream.-Elizabeth G. Book