New Environmental Restoration Policy

The Air Force is looking to accelerate its environmental clean-up activities in an effort to free up land for military or civilian use and to ease the burden on taxpayers for site clean-up. The plan calls for shifting focus from partial clean-up solutions, which sometimes take decades to complete, to clean-ups that are more “technically feasible” and “cost effective,” according to service officials. “Getting the remedies in place is an important event and a terrific indicator of progress, but it’s time to shift our focus to actually completing our clean-ups,” said Terry Yonkers, USAF’s assistant secretary for installations, environment, and logistics. He added, “The standard clean-up practices take too long to reach only interim results and often require decades of land-use restrictions or monitoring, or both.” Among the changes to accomplish these goals, officials intend to award more performance-based, fixed-price contracts. (SAF/PA report by Gary Strasburg)