We confirmed that 45 of the 221 sites, with estimated cleanup costs of $61  million, were included in DERP reporting by the installations. The remaining 176 sites were not included in DERP reporting, and of the  $259 million in estimated cleanup costs, $198 million, or 76 percent, was  not reported through DERP and therefore likely not reported in DOD’s  financial statements. Of the 176 unreported sites, 149 involved ongoing  operations with total estimated cleanup costs of $91 million. The  remaining 27 unreported sites were inactive and/or closed operations with  total estimated cleanup costs of $107 million. Real Property Records and Cost Estimating Methodologies Are Not Reliable

Installation environmental offices at the six installations we visited  maintain comprehensive records for their own sites and operations subject  to cleanup requirements for regulatory purposes and have demonstrated  that cleanup costs for ongoing and inactive/closed operations can be  estimated. We also found that policies regarding the recording of land-related assets  were not consistently applied by the installations. These issues exist primarily because DOD does not have adequate  guidance and leadership to ensure that: (1) all future cleanup costs are  identified and reported as part of an overall approach to managing all of its  environmental liabilities, and (2) real property records are properly  maintained and coordinated with environmental site records. Our objectives at each of the six DOD installations visited were to:   substantiate and supplement the information and insight gained at the   determine the scope of ongoing and inactive/closed operations requiring  cleanup at each installation,  determine the estimated cleanup costs for these operations, and  determine the extent to which these cleanup costs are currently being  reported for budgetary planning and financial statement purposes.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO examined the environmental cleanup costs of ongoing operations of the Department of Defense (DOD). These include general property, plant, and equipment facilities or other assets that are being operated or are in use at DOD installations.

What GAO Found

GAO found that DOD has not developed policies, procedures, and methodologies to ensure that cleanup costs required for all of its ongoing and inactive or closed operations are identified, consistently estimated, and appropriately reported. As a result, DOD's financial statements and environmental reports continue to underreport environmental liabilities and related long-term budgetary needs. The military installations GAO visited had a total of 221 sites with estimated cleanup costs of $259 million. Of these, only 45 sites with estimated cleanup costs of $61 million were being reported for the Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report to Congress, and only that amount was likely included in DOD's financial statements. GAO found DOD was not reporting 149 sites related to ongoing operations with estimated cleanup costs of $91 million and 27 inactive and closed operations with estimated cleanup costs of $107 million. The environmental offices at the six installations GAO visited had comprehensive records for the installation sites subject to cleanup requirements. Although these records were reasonably accurate, the records used to maintain accountability over related land, buildings, and structures were significantly flawed. If properly maintained, the real property records should play a significant role in ensuring the accuracy of environmental site records.