Consolidating federal facility cleanup: Some pros and cons

It has been suggested that Congress establish a permanent, full-time, independent national commission for radioactive waste management activities at DOE's Nuclear Weapons Complex. DOE regulates certain aspects of its treatment, storage, and disposal of radioactive waste by orders that are not promulgated by ''notice and comment'' or other procedures in the Administration Procedures Act. Because many agencies are not legally and technologically structured to handle their own cleanup problems, these activities might be conducted by one entity that can share information and staff among these agencies. There are rational arguments for both sides of this issue. Some of the advantages of such an organization include: focusing Congress's attention on an integrated federal facility cleanup instead of a fragmented, agency by agency approach, and an ability to prioritize cleanup decisions among agencies. Some significant obstacles include: reluctance by Congress and the executive branch to create any new bureaucracy at a time of budget deficits, and a loss of momentum from the progress already being made by the agencies. Given that more than $9 billion was proposed for FY 93 alone for federal facilities' cleanup programs and that decades will pass before all problems are addressed, it is appropriate to consider new approaches to environmental cleanup. This paper begins the dialogue about new ways to improve decision-making and government spending