DOD has indicated that the costs to clean up these training ranges is probable and measurable and as such should be reported as a liability in the financial statements. Training Range Inventories Are Not Complete

Although DOD and the services have collected information on other environmental contamination under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program for years, they have not performed complete inventories of training ranges to identify the types and extent of contamination present. Past data collection efforts were delayed because the services were waiting for the promulgation of the Range Rule which has been withdrawn. Although the Senate Report’s directives were dated May 1999, DOD did not provide formal guidance to the services for collecting training range data until October 2000—17 months later. However, the assumptions and cost factors used in the model were not independently validated to ensure accurate and reliable estimates. Lack of Leadership and Focus Hinders DOD Progress in Reporting Training Range Cleanup Costs

DOD lacks leadership in reporting on the cleanup costs of training ranges. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to review DOD’s ongoing efforts to (1) gather and collect information on its training ranges and issues affecting the successful completion of the inventory and (2) recognize environmental liabilities associated with the cleanup of unexploded ordnance from its training ranges, including DOD’s efforts to develop and implement a methodology to develop cost estimates.
Why GAO Did This Study

Because of concerns about the long-term budgetary implications associated with the environmental cleanup of the Department of Defense (DOD) training ranges, GAO examined (1) the potential magnitude of the cost to clean up these ranges in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, (2) the scope and reliability of DOD's training range inventory, and (3) the methodologies used to develop cost estimates.

What GAO Found

GAO found that DOD lacks complete and accurate data with which to estimate training range cleanup costs. DOD has not done a complete inventory of its ranges to fully identify the types and extent of unexploded ordnance present and the associated contamination. Recently, DOD began to compile training range data, but these initial efforts have been delayed because DOD did not issue formal guidance to the services for collecting the information until October 2000. Because DOD has not completed an inventory of its ranges, the services have used varying methods to estimate the size and condition of the ranges necessary to estimate the cost of cleanup for financial statement purposes. As a result, environmental liability costs are not consistently calculated and reported across the services.