Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Corrective Actions

Program Components

Federal Facilities Site Summaries

Background: The Bureau of Corrective Actions, Department of Defense (DoD) Branch was established to insure that all DoD facilities in the State of Nevada comply with State and Federal law during the investigation, remediation, and restoration of environmentally compromised areas. The Branch oversees and monitors remediation and closure of contaminated DoD sites in Nevada to insure they don't present harm to human health or the environment.

The DoD Branch provides regulatory oversight during the characterization and cleanup of both recent releases at active DoD installations and historic (pre-1986) sites under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP).

The Branch reviews preliminary assessments describing the nature and extent of contamination and reviews and approves site remediation plans to insure they meet all applicable rules and regulations.

Historic DoD contamination in Nevada — Decades of frantic military expansion by the Department of Defense during World War II and the Cold War resulted in significant environmental degradation in Nevada. The DoD Branch of the Bureau of Corrective Actions provides regulatory oversight of the remediation and restoration of these impacts. In the past, activities were conducted under the cloak of national security with little or no consideration for environmental consequences. This secrecy made it difficult to assess the natural resource damage that had occurred in Nevada.

Initially, the federal government claimed sovereign immunity from being held accountable for the environmental impacts that resulted from their activities. Today, environmental laws and regulations are in place that mandates the restoration of these contaminated sites that will likely take federal agencies many decades to accomplish.

Areas of contamination must be completely defined and potential solutions evaluated prior to establishing long-term land use decisions. These determinations are viewed as a shared responsibility between the State of Nevada and the federal government. The working relationship between the State of Nevada and DoD is documented in the Department of Defense and State Memorandum of Agreement (DSMOA).