The Army has maintained an exemplary record in both meeting the requirements of air pollution control rules, and in developing and seeking out new technologies and sustainable practices to reduce the total impact of Army activities on human health and the environment. In the Clean Air Act arena, the Army has taken the lead in: reformulating paints and other coatings to minimize their emissions of air and other pollutants, developing low-impact dust suppression technologies, and training all personnel to conduct their activities in ways that minimize releases of harmful air pollutants. These efforts have resulted in a roughly 50% reduction in air emissions for volatile organics and toxic pollutants over the last decade.
USAEC's role in promoting environmental compliance for the Army in the area of air management includes:
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Managing the Army Community of Practice for Air: Facilitating collaboration amongst Army installations and others on improving environmental compliance practices;
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Hosting discussion groups within the Army to exchange lessons learned and share information;
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Reviewing all CAA rulemakings;
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Preparing Army impact analyses and comments on potential rulemakings;
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Preparing guidance documents, including pollution prevention options;
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Developing tools to assist installations in complying with CAA requirements such as technical compliance guides, compliance placards, air pollution prevention guides and geographical information systems tools;
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Working with the Office of the Army Chief of Staff for Installation Management - Army Environmental Management Division (ACSIM-AEMD), the Installation Management Command (IMCOM), Army Materiel Command (AMC), National Guard Bureau Army National Guard (NGB - ARNG) and US Army Reserve Command (USARC)
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Tracking the Army's progress on meeting DoD and Army environmental goals;
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Supporting installations when requested;
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Maintaining contact with the EPA to stay abreast of current and future initiatives;
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Representing the Army on DoD committees, along with ACSIM-ADEM;
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Tracking Army greenhouse gas emissions; identifying initiatives to reduce them.