The Judge Advocate General (TJAG)

Release and Retention of Documents: All EPAS documents, to include the draft findings, draft Environmental Compliance Assessment Report (ECAR), correspondence, records, notes, etc., are internal working documents until the time that the Final ECAR is executed. EPAS documents will be marked "For Official Use Only" and their distribution handled accordingly. The Army has determined that the premature release of EPAS documents would jeopardize the Army's interest in preserving the free flow, analysis, and comment on internal information regarding environmental compliance. Therefore, except as otherwise required by law, EPAS documents will not be released to the public prior to the execution of the Final Environmental Compliance Assessment Report.

The final ECAR will be made available for release to the public, upon request, as soon as it is executed. Additionally, the environmental findings, any comments on the environmental findings, the corrective action plan, and the draft ECAR, will also be made available for release to the public, upon request, immediately following the execution of the final ECAR.

Following the execution of the final ECAR, requests for all other EPAS documents not listed above (findings, comments, corrective action plan, and draft ECAR) will be considered only to the extent actually incorporated in the final report or otherwise representing purely factual information, on a case-by-case basis under the rules of AR 25-55, Para 3-200. Normal FOIA and AR 25-55 release standards will continue to apply to requests for segregable portions of documents containing unprivileged, factual information.

Commanders and their environmental managers are responsible for their installation's compliance with all federal, state and local environmental laws. Depending on a variety of factors, a violation of those laws may subject them to personal criminal or civil liability. A knowing failure to identify in the funding requirements report (Corrective Action Plan, Environmental Program Requirements (EPR) (1383 or 1391) the resources necessary to maintain or achieve compliance could be one of those factors. Conversely, the conscientious identification of environmental violations, and affirmative efforts to seek funds for those projects necessary to achieve compliance by proper filing of the funding requirements report, would substantially reduce the potential for personal liability.