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Table of Contents

Document Information

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LESSON DESCRIPTION:

The Army's environmental program provides a comprehensive approach to environmental management. In this lesson, you will learn about the program's quality goals, its four components, and its organizations, to include the Environmental Quality-Control Committee (EQCC) and the role and responsibilities of the EC. To make the program a success, you should remain conscious of and strive to achieve the environmental quality goals.

TERMINAL LEARNING OBJECTIVE:

Army leadership is committed to its role as a steward of the environment. The strategy calls upon the Army community and other functional areas to fully recognize the link between mission accomplishment and environmental stewardship and to ensure that environment and stewardship are an integral part of every facet of the Army mission.

3-1. Program Quality Goals. The Army's overall environmental goal is to plan, initiate, and carry out all actions and programs to minimize adverse affects on the quality of the human environment without impairing the Army's mission. There are seven environmental program quality goals. The Army will-

• Demonstrate leadership in environmental protection and improvement.
• Minimize adverse environmental and health impacts while maximizing readiness and strategic preparedness.
• Assure that consideration of the environment is an integral part of Army decision-making.
• Initiate aggressive action to comply with all applicable HN, federal, state, regional, and local environmental laws.
• Restore lands and waters damaged through our past waste-disposal activities.
• Support Army programs for recycling and reuse of materials to conserve natural resources, prevent pollution, and minimize the generation of wastes.
• Pursue an active role in addressing environmental-quality issues in our relations with neighboring communities.

3-2. Program Organization. The Army's environmental program has four components-conservation, restoration, compliance, and prevention. The program specifies the agencies to assist you in solving environmental problems that you may encounter with these components. This paragraph covers the organizational structure of the Army's environmental program, to include the role and responsibilities of the installation EC.

a. Environmental Offices. At installation level, the environmental program is managed within the directorate of public works (DPW)(or other directorate containing installation-support engineering services). Within this directorate is an environmental office headed by an EC. The EC may or may not have technical and support staff, depending on the size of the installation and the magnitude of its environmental problems. At some installations, natural-resource programs are included in the environmental (pollution control) organization; at others, they may be separate.

b. Environmental and Natural-Resource Office. The installation environmental and natural-resource officer advises commanders and staff personnel on environmental protection, compliance, and regulation. His duties require him to coordinate with other agencies on the installation that can be of assistance to the installation's environmental-management programs. This office also manages the installation's environmental programs.

c. Master-Planning Office. The installation master planner is responsible for planning conditions and facilities for the installation in accordance to missions, force structure, and technological advancements for the next 20 years. The master planner maintains maps, records, and reports for this planning process. He has current information on the installation's training areas and on plans for their future development.

d. Installation EQCC. AR 200-1 requires installations to establish an EQCC. This committee acts on a broad range of environmental issues (covered in AR 200-1) and advises the installation commander on environmental priorities, policies, strategies, and programs. The EQCC consists of the installation commander (or designated representative) who chairs the committee; the DPV who acts as the executive secretary; the director of each major staff section; and representatives from medical, safety, range control, resource management, supply, reutilization and marketing, logistics, and public affairs.

e. Directorate of Plans, Training and Mobilization (DPTM). The DPTM (or similar directorate) is the installation's operations and training office. It coordinates all training activities, including budgeting, developing and maintaining training areas, and determining mission priorities. The range-control officer is assigned to the DPTM.

f. Range-Control Division. The range officer is the chief of the range division and has overall responsibility for developing and managing the installation's training ranges. The range-control officer is the range officer's primary assistant. The range-control officer is in charge of range operations, to include maintaining and enforcing regulations, coordinating and scheduling daily range operations, and providing range data to using units.

g. Forestry Division and Fish and Wildlife Division Office. The installation forester is responsible for the forestry program at the installation. Most of an installation's forests are normally in training areas; therefore, any training activities that affect the forestry program and regulations concern this office. The fish and wildlife officer is responsible for the fish and wildlife management programs on the installation. These offices are often part of the DPW or range-control division.

3-3. Environmental Coordinator Role and Responsibilities. The EC monitors activities to ensure that they remain in compliance with environmental laws and regulations. The EC works in the environmental and natural resources division (ENRD) or the DPW. The EC develops management plans for environmental-control aspects of many facilities and operations, recommends appropriate training (including unit HW coordinations), and provides in-house guidance to operations. The coordinator may or may not have technical and support staff, depending on the size of the installation and the magnitude of its environmental problem.

a. Relations With Other Installation Organizations. The EC functions much as a staff officer, overseeing environmental management at the installation and advising the commander accordingly. Not all of the environmental work on the installation is the EC's responsibility.

(1) Proponents of actions are responsible for meeting environmental documentation requirements according to AR 200-2. The EC assists the proponent through such means as guidance, counseling, securing sources of special expertise, and possibly aiding directly in the preparation of documents if time is available.

(2) Organizations that generate pollution must ensure that pollution-control equipment is used. They must also ensure that pollution-generating activities follow all appropriate work practices. This includes reporting according to installation spill plans. The engineering division constructs, operates, and staffs major water and wastewater treatment facilities servicing the entire installation. Other organizations may be responsible for such pollution control as cleaning paint-booth air filters, operating vehicle washracks, and maintaining HW accumulation sites and records. The EC develops management plans for environmental-control aspects of all such facilities and operations, recommends appropriate training for facility operators, and provides in-house guidance to operators (to include monitoring as staffing allows).

(3) The EC may also prepare land and natural cultural resource-management plans, which then must be implemented by all organizations on post. Some installations put some aspects of natural-resource management in separate offices.

(4) The EC must be able to successfully use services of procurement, civilian personnel and legal offices and proactively cooperate with safety, medical, and fire departments.

(5) The EC must work with the training organizations within Civilian Personnel Office (CPO) and the DPTM secure adequate training for those personnel involved in the overall installation environmental programs, in both troop units and activities and installation staff. The environmental office is responsible for certain aspects of training associated with HW management and spill response.

b. Areas of Responsibility. As outlined in AR 200-1, the responsibilities of the EC include oversight of some operations that the engineering directorate may directly control and others that the EC monitors in a staff capacity.

3-4. Unit-Level Environmental Programs. To set up an effective unit environmental program, the unit leaders must understand Army and installation programs. The following are environmental programs that the unit should establish (in-house) or support (installation):

a. Hazardous-Material Management Program. The goals are to minimize health hazards and environmental damages caused by the use and misuse of HM and complies with applicable toxic-substance regulations. The definition of HM varies by federal, state, and local regulations. In your unit, it is any substance or material which causes a threat to human health or the environment or whose storage, transportation, use, or disposal is regulated by federal, state, or local environmental law. The program is established at installation level. If your unit deals with HM, you should-

• Ensure the best management practices for all HM.
• Comply with all applicable regulations.
• Not stockpile HM; order and use only what is required.
• Use nonhazardous substitutes to the maximum extent practicable.
• Conserve resources through recovery, recycling, and reuse.
• Establish procedures to identify and correct management deficiencies.
• Establish a training program and ensure that required personnel are properly trained.
• Ensure that adequate spill-prevention and spill-control equipment are on hand.
• Coordinate training requirements with the chain of command and the installation environmental office/safety officer.
• Comply with chain of command and installation HM requirements.
• Ensure batteries are disposed of in compliance with battery disposal procedures.
• Establish HM spill procedures.
• Establish HM fire/explosion procedures.
• Ensure that adequate protective equipment is available.

b. Hazardous- and Solid-Waste Management Program. The goals are to protect the public health by minimizing the generation of hazardous and solid wastes, developing cost-effective waste-management practices, saving energy, and conserving natural resources. A HW is defined as waste that poses a substantial hazard to human health or the environment because of its quantity and concentration. If your unit deals with HW, you should-

• Establish a HW management program to comply with HW regulations.
• Ensure that HW is properly identified. The correct danger and warning signs must be present on stored waste, and the containers that hold HW must be properly labeled.
• Ensure that wastes do not accumulate beyond allowable quantity and time limits.
• Maintain proper HW records as required by EPA.
• Ensure compliance with on-post HW transportation requirements. Contact the installation defense reutilization and marketing office (DRMO) or the directorate of logistics (DOL) for details.
• Ensure compliance with off-post HW transportation requirements. Public road use increases transportation requirements. Contact the installation DOL/facilities management office (FMO) for movement approval.
• Ensure that drivers transporting HW are qualified. Transporters of HM must be trained according to Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations.
• Establish a HW training program, and ensure that the proper training of personnel occurs. Most installations conduct HW train-the-trainer programs.
• Maintain liaison with key chain-of-command and installation personnel.
• Appoint an environmental compliance officer for your unit.
• Ensure that the unit environmental compliance officer has sufficient support to carry out his duties.
• Ensure that unit personnel use their personal-protective equipment (PPE) when handling HW.
• Ensure that adequate spill-prevention and spill-control equipment is on hand.
• Ensure that unauthorized storage or disposal of HW does not occur. HW must be stored in authorized containers and disposed of as directed by the environmental office/DRMO.

c. Hazardous Communications. An effective hazardous-communication (HAZCOM) program will assist leaders in determining what hazardous chemicals are present in their units, how to protect their soldiers from hazards those chemicals present, and how to properly store and use those chemicals. The installation safety officer is the point of contact (POC) for most HAZCOM matters program, and the HAZCOM training program. In support of HAZCOM, unit leaders should-

• Ensure that their subordinates receive adequate training on HM they are exposed to in the workspace (Occupational Safety and Health Act [OSHA] requirement).
• Maintain an up-to-date list of all HM/HW known to be present in their area.
• Ensure that containers of hazardous substances are labeled, tagged, or otherwise marked to identify the material and warn soldiers of hazards.
• Maintain an MSDS for every HM in their unit.
• Ensure that soldiers are trained to recognize, understand, and use MSDSs and labels for the HM they use.
• Ensure that soldiers use proper procedures when working with hazardous substances.

d. Pollution Prevention. The goal is to reduce our reliance on products or processes that generate environmentally degrading impacts. The objective of the pollution-prevention program is to reduce or eliminate the impact on the total environment.

Unit leaders should ensure that their units conduct inventory control. A unit should not stockpile HM. If an HM has an expired shelf life, it can cost much more to dispose of the item than it did to obtain it. The HM will have to be handled as an HW.

Product substitution is an easy way to reduce HW generation. Unit personnel should review the HM inventory in their areas and determine if there are substitutes available that are nonhazardous or less hazardous. Examples would be using solvent or replacing the sand used in sandblasting operations with plastic beads, which last longer and can be recycled.

A process change can reduce the amount of HW generated. Using a vapor degreaser could be replaced by using a soap-and-hot-water parts cleaner. Changing processes in painting operations can reduce overspray and pollution. However, the water still needs to be treated as HW, since paint particles can become waste material.

e. Recycling Program The Army is promoting increased use of product separation, substituting materials, changing procedures to avoid the use of hazardous substances (source reduction), and recycling to reduce the volume of solid waste. Most installations have a recycling program. To support that program, personnel should-

• Ensure that all recyclable materials are being recycled. Recyclable materials include computer printouts, corrugated cardboard, computer punch cards, newspaper, high-grade white paper, aluminum cans, plastics, oil, solvents, glass, steel, and brass. Check with the installation environmental office to verify the material being recycled for your location.
• Ensure that recycling materials are source-separated. Contaminated material must be removed from recyclables.

f. Spill-Prevention and Spill-Response Plan. It is an Army policy and a CWA requirement to prevent spilling oil and hazardous substances and to provide prompt response to contain and clean up spills. The CWA prohibits discharging oil or hazardous substances from installations, vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft into the environment without a discharge permit. Exceptions will be made in cases of extreme emergency where the discharge is considered essential to protect human life. Every reasonable precaution should be taken to prevent spills of oil or hazardous substances. The unit leader should-

• Ensure that facilities are provided to store, handle, and use oils and hazardous substances and that proper safety and security measures are implemented.
• Appoint a spill coordinator and members for the unit's spill-response team. This designation should be in writing.
• Maintain an up-to-date spill-response plan. (This is an installation requirement.)
• Conduct periodic spill-response drills.
• Ensure that sufficient equipment and supplies (absorbent materials) for spill responses are on hand and pre-positioned in the unit.
• Locate all drains, drainage ditches, streams, ponds, and so forth in the area; and plan how to prevent a spill from reaching them.
• Coordinate with the installation safety, preventive medicine, and environmental offices to determine the proper PPE; when to clean up a spill, and when to leave the area and contact the installation spill-response team for cleanup. This will be determined by the installation environmental office and/or spill-response team.
• Maintain a copy of the ISCP. Some of the information you will need is contained in this plan, and the data is available from the environmental office.
• Maintain a current list of names and phone numbers of those who may need to be contacted (fire department, safety, provost marshal, preventive medicine, environmental, and so forth).
• Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all HM/HW; provide a copy to the post fire department so that they can use it in case of a chemical fire.
• Ensure that pollutants are not discharged into storm or washrack drains or poured on the ground.
• Ensure that small spills are properly attended to, cleaned up, and collected. Dispose of contaminated soil properly. Contact the installation environmental office for additional information.
• Ensure that treatment of waste oil complies with all applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
• Ensure that wastes produced during the cleaning of fuel storage tanks and combustion-engine components are collected and treated to required levels before discharge.
• Ensure that oil, fuel, and other hazardous-pollutant spills are reported to the environmental office and higher headquarters. The battalion Supply Officer (US Army) (S4) and the post environmental office can provide information on reportable spill quantities.

• Establish a training program and ensure that required personnel are properly trained.

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