The operational cost of the environmental programs at the Naval Aviation Depots is identified in the NIF budget. Those costs are for personnel, material, required training, and waste disposal. The cost to cover proposed legislation or forecasted environmental regulations is difficult to identify. Since a change to material or process may require upwards of ten years to develop, either in conjunction with private industry or on our own, it is difficult to fully identify the resources required. Presently, we are developing long range research and development goals to address the forecasted development of environmental regulations, yet funding those goals is becoming increasingly difficult as environmental funds are most often set aside for compliance with existing regulations. Mr. Hutto: What suggestions do you have that would improve your ability to provide adequate funding to meet environmental compliance requirements? Admiral DeMayo: There are several initiatives which need to be addressed in establishing adequate funding to meet environmental compliance requirements. First we need better information regarding the needs. We have been surprised too often in the past. Perhaps a clearing house would help in keeping federal acquisition activities apprised of changing state and local regulations. An It is nearly impossible to successfully enter the military construction process in time to have a project addressing a compliance order funded and constructed within the time frame set by the regulatory authority. environmental compliance "variable location military construction" item would help alleviate this problem by establishing an account to be used for military construction projects required under a compliance order. The Defense Environmental Restoration Account is used primarily in the restoration of hazardous waste disposal sites. However, in the past, Congress and DOD have allowed the services to use a portion of the Defense Environmental Restoration Account for studies and equipment related to the reduction of hazardous waste. This funding is vital as seed money for the new hazardous waste minimization initiatives, and enhances the "in-house" hazardous waste minimization efforts at the naval aviation depots and throughout the services. The asset capitalization program may be used to a limited extent for equipment purchases and minor construction for environmental projects. However, much of the equipment that will have a major impact on our generation of hazardous waste requires research and development which is beyond the scope of the asset capitalization program. ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE HAZARDOUS WASTE MINIMIZATION Mr. Hutto: One of the most important environmental issues involving naval aviation depots is hazardous waste minimization. With hazardous waste disposal costs rapidly escalating and environmental regulations becoming more stringent, hazardous waste minimization has become imperative. What are the naval aviation depots doing to minimize their generation of hazardous waste and how much confidence can we have that these reductions are real? Admiral DeMayo: Each depot has been developing projects in conjunction with their processes to improve productivity and reduce the generation of hazardous waste. Using Naval Aviation Depot Alameda as an example of what is being done, it has 11 projects in place as summarized here: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Plural component mixing of paint. Electrostatic spray painting. Solvent recovery stills for paint solvent. Machining Oil Recycling Still. 6. Plastic Media Blasting (PMB) Aircraft Components. Solvent Spray Booths replacement with quadrex totally enclosed solvent recycling cleaning booths. 7. 8. Graymill cleaning booths for detergent/water cleaning recycling booths to replace Varsol Solvent. 9. 10. Wet lay up for composite repair with pre-impregnated fiberglass sheets, films, and adhesives reduce solvents and low boiling resin wastes. Limited hazardous material inventory for "shelf life" control. 11. Rain erosion paint (leading edge protection) waste minimization. Corporately we are developing a data base of information on productivity and environmental enhancement projects that each of the naval aviation depots has developed or is developing. This data base will be used to transfer successes from one depot to another as well as address problems that one depot may be having for which another may have a solution. We are confident that the reductions are real. Process changes may not result in an immediately measurable change in hazardous waste generation. However, the process engineering and environmental engineering offices at the depots have expressed confidence that the changes are resulting in a reduction in the generation of hazardous waste. We are developing a research and development program to investigate new maintenance processes. Some of the processes that have been successfully investigated in the past are hard chrome plating, ion vapor deposition, and electrostatic spray painting. Phase II of the compliance study will enhance our action in this area. Mr. Hutto: Recently, GAO issued a report that is generally critical of DOD hazardous waste minimization programs because of problems with the measurement of baseline hazardous waste generation and the inability of DOD to identify the alternative reasons for a reduction in hazardous waste, such as declining workload. In terms of the hazardous waste minimization programs at the naval aviation depots how would you respond to this GAO criticism? Admiral DeMayo: We have, over the last several years, been developing a strong hazardous waste generation baseline using the Navy's hazardous waste annual report. Our activities are continuously upgrading the data and improving the quality of the report as they refine their hazardous waste tracking methods. It is imperative that we have the best baseline possible in order to properly track our hazardous waste minimization program. GAO itemized several specific problems: tracking hazardous waste back to actual generators, variations in the numbers of generators reporting on the Navy's hazardous waste annual report, reporting waste in improper categories, and submissions in combination with other installations. We are correcting these problems 'by ensuring that the generating shop and process which generate the hazardous waste are included in the Navy's hazardous waste annual report. Also, the naval aviation depots have continued to report, using the hazardous waste annual report, thereby establishing a baseline. Hazardous waste categories are confirmed by process and generating shop. We recognize the problem of correlation of hazardous waste generation to changes in the amount of work done. We have reviewed methods of correlation, but have had no success in determining a particular aspect for correlation of waste generated to amount of work done. Often, the level of effort to reduce hazardous waste generation shadows any fluctuation in workload. GROWTH IN ARMY INVENTORIES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, READINESS SUBCOMMITTEE, Washington, DC, Thursday, March 23, 1989. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room 2216, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC., Hon. Earl Hutto (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. STATEMENT OF HON. EARL HUTTO, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM FLORIDA, CHAIRMAN, READINESS SUBCOMMITTEE Mr. HUTTO. The subcommittee will come to order. This morning, the subcommittee will continue its review of DOD inventory systems. The Readiness Subcommittee began investigating inventory systems in the early eighties when we uncovered problems at Navy Supply Centers. Since then, the subcommittee has extended its investigation, and periodically holds hearings on the different systems within the Department. Today, we will be discussing the Army's wholesale and retail inventory systems. As you can imagine, the Army's inventory is large and the system used to manage it is complex. Total inventory is valued in the billions of dollars. There are hundreds of Army supply activities and thousands of Army employees devoted to running these activities. The General Accounting Office currently has four assignments underway that look at the various aspects of the Army systems for the past year. We have asked GAO to share some of their insights with us. At this time, I would like to recognize Mr. Machtley, who will present Mr. Kasich's statement. Mr. Kasich is the ranking Minority Member on the subcommittee. Mr. Machtley. STATEMENT OF RONALD K. MACHTLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM RHODE ISLAND Mr. MACHTLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Chairman for his remarks, and I want to take this opportunity to welcome our witness from the Army, Major General Murray, and welcome back Mr. Davis from the GAO. Today's hearing is about the growth of inventory in the Army's supply system. While this may seem to be a technical subject, a properly operating supply system is crucial to our mobilization capability. If it is true that the Army's supply system is burdened by many items for which there is no known requirement, and there are many other excesses clogging the inventory, then we need to correct the problem. I have also been told that there are potential problems with the structure of the supply system, which consists of two essentially separate and independent supply systems: the wholesale and the retail. The absence of coordination between the two could mean the loss of control over the system as a whole. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN R. KASICH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM OHIO, RANKING MINORITY MEMBER, READINESS SUBCOMMITTEE I would like to thank Chairman Hutto for his remarks, and I want to take this opportunity to welcome our witness from the Army, Major General Murray, and to welcome back Mr. Davis from the GAO. Today's hearing is about the growth of inventory in the Army's supply system. While this may seem to be a technical subject, a properly operating supply system is crucial to our mobilization capability. If it is true that the Army's supply system is burdened by many items for which there is no known requirement, and there are many other excesses clogging the inventory, then we need to correct the problem. I have also been told that there are potential problems with the structure of the supply system, which consists of two essentially separate and independent supply systems: the wholesale and the retail. The absence of coordination between the two could mean a loss of control over the system as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HUTTO. Thank you, Mr. Machtley. Our first witness today is Mr. Richard Davis, the Director of Army Issues for the General Accounting Office. He is accompanied by two of his Assistant Directors, Bob Lane and Ken Knouse. We welcome you, gentlemen, it is good to see you again. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank you and your associates in the Army Group for the outstanding work you have done for the committee this year. Your work has been everything we could ask for from GAO. It has been factual, objective and timely. We often wish your evaluations reported more good news, but you have to call them the way you see them, and the problems in the Department are large and complex. I want you to know that we understand the long hours you all have put in on your evaluations and we here in Congress appreciate your efforts. Congress depends heavily on you and GAO to give us independent, objective evaluations of what is really going on in DOD. Your work this year has been outstanding, and I wanted to take this moment to let you know that we appreciate it and look forward to your advice and counsel in the mark-up this year, and to working with you in the future. Before we hear your testimony, Mr. Davis, I think it would be worthwhile if we spent a few minutes to explain the wholesale and retail inventory system that we will be discussing. It might also be helpful if you would define some of the inventory terms that we will be hearing today, like reparable versus consumable, or reparable versus consumable items, end versus secondary items, and applicable versus inapplicable items. You may proceed. |