An Integrated Marine Environmental Compliance Program for Naval Shipyards

This report focuses on visits by the Marine Environmental Support Office (MESO) staff to the five naval shipyards not slated for closure when the project began (Long Beach, Portsmouth, Puget Sound, Norfolk, and Pearl Harbor). The analysis contained in this report is based on questionnaires sent to the shipyards, in-person and telephone interviews with shipyard personnel, research of related environmental documents, information already on file at MESO, and site visits to the shipyards to view the processes, discharges, and other activities affecting the receiving waters. MESO found there is a general lack of planning at the shipyards for changes that will almost certainly result from current regulatory trends. There is little effort to share data and insights across programs or to work toward the integrated, risk-approach proposed by EPA. These findings were expected, and they reinforce the NAVSEA decision to bring MESO and the shipyards into a partnership to plan an integrated long-term marine environmental compliance program. Prepared in collaboration with Computer Science Corp., San Diego, CA and San Diego State Univ. Foundation, San Diego, CA.