Frequently Asked Questions
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The U.S. Army Environmental Command is a brigade-level command, led by a U.S. Army Chemical Corps colonel, assigned to the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, with a world-wide mission to provide environmental expertise that supports ready and resilient Soldiers and installations.
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The roles and responsibilities of the USAEC are spelled out in Army Regulation 200-1. In general, the command exists to ensure continued use of Army training lands and minimization of environmental liabilities, through sound environmental practices and stewardship.
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USAEC’s mission is to deliver cost-effective environmental services globally to enable Army readiness.
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The command traces its history back to Nov. 15, 1972, when the Army created the Program Manager for Demilitarization of Chemical Materiel. In 1975, the organization took on the task of managing the newly established installation restoration program for the Army. Between 1978 and 1980, the Army’s environmental responsibilities expanded to include research and testing and pollution control technology. The organization’s mission, name and chain of command changed repeatedly throughout the years but the focus on managing Army environmental responsibilities remains to this day. The Base Realignment and Closure Congressional Act of 2005 established the U.S. Army Environmental Command as a major subordinate command of the Installation Management Command and that connection remains today
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Provide premier environmental solutions for our Army and our nation.
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USAEC has established an Environmental Support Manager (ESM) for every Army installation. If an installation needs to know who their ESM is, they can contact AEC by email to usarmy.jbsa.imcom-aec.mbx.public-mailbox@army.mil or phone: (210) 466-1590 or toll free (855) 846-3940.
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Our Story
The AEC story began in 1972 when the Army created the Program Manager for Demilitarization of Chemical Materiel to manage the day-to day operations of destroying the nation's stockpile of toxic chemical agents and munitions. Over the years our role has expanded to include many new responsibilities around the world. Through all the changes, our mission of ensuring maximum use of Army training lands through sound environmental practices and stewardship remains.Our Mission and Vision
Mission: Deliver cost-effective environmental services globally to enable Army readiness.
Vision: Provide premier environmental solutions for our Army and our nation.Our Focus
We provide environmental expertise, program management and project management in:· Compliance
· Conservation
· Restoration
· Pollution Prevention
Our Team of Experts
Our staff is made up of one or more specialists in a variety of fields including air quality specialists, archeologists, biologists, chemists, ecologists, environmental, biological, chemical, civil, and mechanical engineers, entomologists, environmental attorneys, environmental planners, environmental scientists, foresters, geographers, geologists, microbiologists, natural resources specialists, physical scientists, physicists, range scientists, and toxicologists. The organization also includes support staff such as business analysts, human resources specialists, communication specialists, information technology specialists, logisticians and others. The common thread running through all our specialties is a commitment to delivering environmental solutions in support of U.S. Army readiness and sustainability.Our Partners
We partner with a wide variety of federal, state and local authorities and public interest groups at home and abroad to ensure stakeholders have the opportunity to influence decisions that affect their lives. Some of our key partners include the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and Defense Logistics Agency, and other U.S. federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service. We also have close partnerships with state environmental quality regulators and historic preservation offices, Native American Tribal Governments, public interest groups, restoration advisory boards, and host nation officials in countries where the U.S. Army operates.Our Social Responsibility
We protect our land, air and water by meeting environmental standards, enabling Army operations, maximizing availability of training lands, and protecting Soldiers, families and communities. As steward of more than 13 million acres across many diverse ecosystems, the Army complies with more than 100 Army, DoD and federal regulations, laws and statutes that protect human health and the environment. We help installations successfully achieve and maintain compliance while minimizing mission impacts from environmental restrictions.
We preserve our history and heritage through stewardship of more than 58,275 historic buildings, 84,676 inventoried archeological sites, and Native American sacred sites on 15 installations. We help ensure that installations make informed decisions regarding the cultural resources under their control in compliance with public laws, in support of the military mission, and consistent with sound principles of cultural resources management.We conserve our natural resources by working with installations to develop, implement and maintain programs for the conservation, utilization and rehabilitation of natural resources on 13.6 million acres, spread across 156 installations, with more than 12,500 operational ranges, 2.5 million acres of forest and 1.3 million acres of wetlands. This includes responsibility for protecting 254 federally endangered species on 125 installations, as well as two candidate species on 16 installations, which could impact Army missions.
We restore our lands by performing appropriate, cost-effective cleanup at active installations Army-wide to ensure the property is both safe for installation use and protective of human health and the environment. We have demonstrated our commitment to environmental stewardship for more than 45 years by addressing soil and groundwater contamination at more than 13,000 sites. Responses now are complete at more than 12,500 of those and responses are projected to be completed at 95 percent of all sites by 2021. To date, the Army has invested more than $9 billion to allow our Soldiers to continue to use Army lands for training and to ensure human health and the environment are protected.We prevent pollution by guiding Army initiatives to minimize pollution in all Army operations and activities. Our pollution prevention activities help Army commands and installations invest in new ways to protect resources, meet environmental requirements, and maintain readiness.
We support Army installations and training by helping ensure the Army uses a solid science and engineering base in developing sustainable environmental technologies and that U.S. Army technology developers focus on the highest priority user needs in support of the environmental strategy. We help commands actively promote mission readiness by continually assessing and upgrading environmental performance across Army installations. We work with installations to enable Soldier readiness and sustainable military communities while ensuring compliance with laws and regulations designed to protect human health and the environment.
We involve our communities by remaining committed to keeping U.S. citizens informed about Army activities and where possible, involved in decision making, especially when actions might affect the communities outside our gates. Many environmental laws and statutes require public participation; we promote not only compliance with the letter of the law but also the spirit. Whether it is a scoping meeting, restoration advisory board, or installation action plan for cleanup activities, the goals are to keep the public informed and engaged and create opportunities for open communication between the Army and citizens in the surrounding communities.
Sources: FY17 Army Universe Chart, HQ IIS, AEDB, REPI Report to Congress