Department of Defense Clean-up Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program (NSCMP) For more information, visit NSCMP page NSCMP asked The Keystone Center, a non-profit organization that works as a third-party neutral facilitator, to develop a public involvement mechanism that brings together various individuals who can share their perspectives with the NSCMP as it moves toward disposal of chemical materiel now located at non-stockpile sites. This effort is called the NSCMP Core Group.

Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA)

To view the ACWA site: http://www-pmcd.apgea.army.mil

With the completion of all primary objectives, The Keystone Center is successfully concluding the national Dialogue on Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA), site-specific implementation efforts will be on going. The U. S. has stockpiled chemical weapons stored at nine sites across the country. The Army originally planned to incinerate these weapons at each of the sites in order to meet the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. Congress mandated that the Army demonstrate possible alternative methods for destroying the weapons under the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) Program. Congress further expanded the scope of ACWA in 1999 by mandating an acquisition and piloting strategy for one or more alternate technologies.

This Keystone Dialogue is a classic example of a successful marriage between the best science available, mixed with the concerns of the public and addressing the full range of political issues. The Dialogue, which includes citizens from all nine states working with chemical weapons, federal, state, and tribal regulators; and Army personnel, worked by consensus to develop a 180 page Request for Proposal (RFP) for identifying and selecting alternative technologies to incineration. The responses to the RFP were evaluated by a joint citizen and Department of Defense (DOD) group and agreement was reached on which technologies to demonstrate. The Dialogue then jointly evaluated the demonstrations and reported by consensus to Congress on the outcome. Currently, two technologies have been successfully demonstrated and are moving into the Engineering Design Studies (EDS) phase, three other technologies are in the demonstration stage, and the Dialogue is supporting the ACWA program in acquisition and piloting activities.

Many have noted that this Keystone Dialogue process represents a fundamentally new way of doing business for the DOD. Last year, Congress mandated the continuation of the Dialogue process and several government and independent studies have recommended that DOD look to use this type of process more broadly. In 1998, the project was selected by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University as a finalist in the “Innovations in Government” Program.

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The Keystone National Policy Dialogue on Military Munitions, Final Report
September 2000 | Report #65 | Call 970-513-5835 to order reports | Report available on-line

The Department of Defense (DoD) requires the use of munitions in carrying out their mission. Their design and testing are part of maintaining military readiness, as are training activities that help personnel develop the skills and expertise to use them effectively. Nonetheless, from product development to use in combat, munitions and their constituents pose varying degrees of risk to human health and the environment. Recent legislative, regulatory and policy actions have focused regulatory and public attention on the specific environmental and safety risks associated with munitions. In 1997, DoD initiated the National Munitions Dialogue to broaden the discussions to all environmental and safety aspects of the life-cycle management of conventional military munitions. The purpose of Dialogue was to exchange information among stakeholders about issues surrounding munitions and their management as well as potential actions to address those issues.

The Dialogue published its final report in September 2000. This report summarizes the major issues identified as well as possible solutions supported by some or all of the participants. To date, the work of the Dialogue has already been incorporated directly into a variety of DOD policy directives.

Final Report of the Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee, Consensus Principles and Recommendations for Improving Federal Facilities Cleanup
April 1996 | Report #56 | Call 970-513-5835 to order reports | Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/swerffrr

The Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee
The Keystone Center facilitated a five-year, EPA-convened advisory committee designed to address issues of environmental cleanup at federal facilities. This Committee is widely credited with serving as a catalyst for the development of over 200 site-specific multi-stakeholder advisory boards that now exist at all Department of Energy sites and all large Department of Defense facilities around the country. These advisory boards have proved to be useful in providing input and developing support at the community level for cleanup and restoration plans and have also led to a decrease in litigation at many of these sites.

In 1992, the Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee was federally chartered under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address issues related to federal facility contamination. The goal of the Committee was to develop consensus policy recommendations aimed at improving the process by which federal facility environmental cleanup decisions are made, such that these decisions reflect the priorities and concerns of all stakeholders.

The Final Report sets forth the Committee’s consensus recommendations. In this report, the Committee has included all relevant recommendations from its Interim Report. The Committee clarifies the intent of recommendations in the Interim Report where misunderstandings have developed, and offers new recommendations developed to address the changing environment in which federal facilities cleanup decisions are being made. The principles and recommendations elaborated upon in this report are intended to improve the overall decisions-making and priority-setting process.

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Interim Report of The Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee, Recommendations For Improving The Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Decision-Making And Priority Setting Processes
February 1993 | Report # 22 | Call 970-513-5835 to order reports

The federal facility environmental restoration challenge is enormous. The environmental legacy of the federal government’s mission-oriented activities is felt in communities throughout the country. Environmental cleanup of the 24,000 sites on federal facilities in the United States may ultimately cost as much as $400 billion and will extend well into the next century. From a technical perspective, these cleanups are likely to be particularly complex and challenging. Equally challenging is the process by which federal facility cleanup decisions are made.

The Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration (FFER) Dialogue Committee, which includes forty representatives of federal agencies, tribal and state governments and associations, and local and national environmental, community, and labor organizations, was established by EPA to develop consensus policy recommendations aimed at improving the FFER decision-making process to ensure that cleanup decisions reflect the priorities and concerns of all stakeholders.

The report describes the outcome of the deliberations of the FFER Dialogue Committee. It focuses on recommendations for improving the dissemination of federal facilities cleanup information; stakeholder involvement in key federal facilities cleanup decisions, particularly through the use of advisory boards; and consultation on federal facilities cleanup funding decisions and setting priorities in the event of funding shortfalls.

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