The Air Force is continuing its environmental clean-up efforts at Tyndall AFB, Fla., by launching a campaign to remediate an additional 30 contaminated sites there by 2014. Efforts are also underway to clean up 11 former munitions sites there well ahead of the Defense Department’s proposed 2020 goal, according to a USAF release. “The Air Force has an obligation to remove the known contamination which may present an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment,” said Terry Yonkers, USAF’s top official for installations and environmental matters. To date, the service has spent $42.7 million on Tyndall’s clean-up and has already restored 25 contaminated sites, such as old landfills, areas with underground tanks, aircraft crash sites, and old chemical storage areas. Those cleaned-up areas have received Environmental Protection Agency approval. (For more on the cleanup, see EPA Eyes Tyndall from the Daily Report archive.)
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.