Mark Kelly Presses Army Corps Nom About The Remediation Of Retired Army Testing Sites In Arizona

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During Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) questioned military nominees about army testing sites in Arizona.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator. Senator Kelly.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Tell, good to see you, and thank you to all of our witnesses for

00:13being here today, and thanks for taking time to meet with me last week. I'm going to see you

00:18tomorrow again at our EPW hearing. Yes, sir. But I do want to, we'll talk about some Arizona

00:28civil works projects then, but in this setting, I wanted to ask you about the Army Corps formerly,

00:35some formerly utilized defense sites. It's under the FUDS program. As you may know, Arizona has

00:42long hosted test sites for the Army and the Air Force, and we have several sites in the state

00:48that are no longer actively used, but have unexploded ordinance or some other hazards that

00:56require some remediation, and the Army Corps FUDS program is what we rely on for that remediation.

01:05For example, in the town of Santa Rita in southern Arizona, we have a FUDS site next to the town's

01:12high school, and town leaders have expressed significant safety concerns. It's next to the

01:19high school. There are signs that say, don't go in this area. What do you think high school

01:24students do? They go out into the area anyway. But also on the Tohono O'odham Nation, there's

01:32unexploded ordinance that has prevented the tribe from constructing some new water infrastructure.

01:40So Mr. Tell have confirmed, will you commit to working with my office to accelerate the site

01:45assessment and remediation processes for these sites in Santa Rita and on the Tohono O'odham land?

01:54Senator, I look forward to working with you on that, and it will require close coordination with the

02:00Assistant Secretary of the Army for installation, energy, and the environment. That person has

02:09oversight of the Corps' mission when it comes to the formerly used defense sites, but because the

02:14Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works has oversight of the Army Civil Works program,

02:18and both of those missions fall under the Corps of Engineers, it will require close collaboration

02:22between those two offices to make sure that we get it right. And there are implications,

02:26as I understand it from you, on these sites as it relates to water. And so, and I will, I'll have

02:32a specific focus in that regard, working closely with the Assistant Secretary of the Army for

02:36Installations, Energy, and the Environment. Thank you. And more broadly, if confirmed, how will you

02:41ensure that communities with FUD sites aren't left waiting for years or decades for the Army Corps to

02:48address these at-risk sites and these problems?

02:52Senator, thank you. Congress has charged the Army Corps of Engineers with cleanup at formerly used

02:59defense sites, as well as former Department of Energy sites. Again, the Assistant Secretary of the

03:04Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment has primary responsibility over the Department of

03:09Defense sites, whereas the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works has primary responsibility

03:14over the Department of Energy sites. But regardless, we share a workforce with the Corps of

03:17Engineers, and it's going to require both offices to coordinate very closely to solve the problems

03:21like yours, like the ones you're bringing up, which are very important, of course, to the local

03:25community, but also to the country, as the Department of Defense does the important work that it does.

03:29All right, thank you. And Dr. Napoli, with new countries pursuing nuclear power, there are growing

03:37concerns about safeguards and nuclear fuel cycle risks. If confirmed, how would you ensure that the NNSA's

03:43work on securing fissile materials and promote responsible nuclear energy expansion continues?

03:53Thank you, Senator. Working with the international community, including the International

03:57Atomic Energy Agency, is a core mission of the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. As you said,

04:03to secure all nuclear materials, ensure their protection, as well as promoting comprehensive safeguards for

04:09nuclear weapons to preclude them from seeking nuclear weapons. If confirmed, I look forward to working

04:13both with our broader U.S. government and our international partners to ensure that our nation is protected

04:19in that regard. All right. Thank you, and I yield back. Thank you very much.

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