Environmental Compliance Assessment and Planning
Argonne's Environmental Science Division (EVS) has experience, both domestically and worldwide, in evaluating a wide spectrum of environmental requirements and in developing plans and strategies to ensure that federal installations are in full compliance with those requirements. With the advent of ISO 14000, "Environmental Management Standards," and issuance of Executive Order 13148, "Greening the Government through Leadership in Environmental Management," private and public-sector organizations increasingly are developing and implementing Environmental Management Systems (EMSs). EMS tools include: - Information management systems,
- Environmental compliance and pollution prevention auditing programs,
- Hazardous and nonhazardous waste management programs, and
- New approaches to environmental impact assessment.
To illustrate the extent of EVSs experience, EVS staff have assisted nearly every U.S. Air Force (USAF) Major Command, both at home and overseas, in a range of environmental evaluations and assessments that have included: - Comprehensive USAF installation environmental compliance assessment and evaluation,
- Environmental Compliance Assessment and Management Program (ECAMP),
- Environmental Management System (EMS) Gap Analysis,
- Base Conversion Environmental Assessment (BCEAT), and
- Environmental Impact Analysis Process (NEPA) assessments.
Targeted compliance plans and operational procedures include:
- Hazardous Waste Management and Command-wide Operating Procedures,
- Spill Response and Contingency,
- Asbestos Management and Operation,
- Pollution Prevention and Opportunity Assessment (P2OA),
- Integrated Natural Resource Management Plans (INRMPs),
- Coastal Zone Management,
- Protected Species Management,
- Bird-Aircraft Strike Hazard Management (BASH), and
- Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plans (ICRMP).
In all applications, a team of Argonne scientists and engineers visit the installations to collect data and understand the site-specific processes necessary for plan development. The development of INRMPs require that Argonne staff first conduct field surveys of ecosystems, perform biodiversity surveys, and develop models for vegetation succession. Then strategies for stewardship of natural resources and protected species, urban forestry, and exotic and invasive species management are formulated. In the development of ICRMPs, field surveys of cultural resources by Argonne staff have yielded a variety of previously undocumented features at several installations, including prehistoric sites, World War II facilities, Cold War facilities, and traditional graves and tombs.
An example of the types of resource management tools being developed by EVS is the Integrated Ecosystem Database of the Republic of Korea (IEDROK). The IEDROK geographic information system (GIS) displays the locations of natural and cultural resources against backgrounds of vegetation cover, soil type, and a variety of other landscape features. Used in the planning stages prior to any U.S. federal action at Korean-bases, this rapid screening tool identifies constraining natural and cultural resources, as required by the Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and the Republic of Korea.
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