Hazardous Waste Management at Tinker Air Force Base--Problems Noted, Improvements Needed

Gao ID: NSIAD-85-91 July 19, 1985

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed hazardous waste management practices at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma.

GAO found that: (1) the base has been selling, transferring, or disposing of hazardous wastes rather than recycling them, as required by Department of Defense (DOD) waste management policies; (2) an industrial waste treatment plant at the base was not being used to full capacity; (3) rather than repairing a damaged portion of the treatment plant that could handle certain chemicals, the base is having the Defense Property Disposal Service dispose of them; (4) poor management of the plant has led to equipment problems, supply shortages, inadequate written policies, and improper collection, storage, and analysis of waste samples; (5) the base is not in compliance with regulations implementing the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; (6) inadequate environmental monitoring on the base has caused the contamination of all of the major streams that flow across the base; and (7) the base has had problems with overcharges on hazardous waste disposal contracts.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Harry R. Finley Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 512-5187


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