Photo By Master Sgt. Peter Morrison | Kristen Sehr, line boss with the Maine Nature Conservancy assists the Maine National...... read more read more
AUGUSTA, Maine - Even with dwindling budgets, the Army’s responsibility to the environment remains constant. The Maine National Guard has a dedicated team of environmental specialists that works hard to ensure that the only footprints left behind by our activities, are from our boots. This team is located at the Directorate of Facilities Engineering at Camp Keyes, Augusta.
They oversee all the Maine Guard facilities and ensure they meet all current federal and state environmental initiatives and directives. The goal is to minimize the impact that the soldiers and airmen who work and train in these areas leave on the wildlife and surrounding areas, and to prevent problems before they become a bigger issue.
Maine’s team earned recognition for their efforts when they were awarded the National Guard Bureau Environmental Award for Installations, Environmental Quality (Non- Industrial). Maine has come a long way from when they placed 2nd to last in their first EPAS inspection in 2004. But with nowhere to go but up, the team worked away to make improvements where they could make changes.
In 2009, they earned a spot in the top third of those same 54 locations. But they still had, and continue to have room to improve. They set their sights higher, and aimed for greater achievements. They knew to get there, they needed to train the end user, soldiers. After identifying this need, Maine took a serious look at implementing new trainings and soldier led initiatives.
“We have one of the most advanced training platforms in the National Guard,” said Andrew Flint, the state environmental specialist for Maine. “Soldiers have access to online training programs that give them certain certifications that are only available by classroom in some other states.”
The ease of access to these programs allowed for more soldiers to become trained in hazardous waste, universal waste, pollution prevention and asbestos awareness, among other environmental programming.
Flint said that while they are happy to be protecting the environment, the mission of his department is to make sure everything they do is in compliance with the law.
“It’s federal law, it is also an executive order,” he said. “If they say you have to do it, well, you have to do it.”
Not only is it a federal law, but as Flint put it, a much more efficient way of dealing with an issue.
“A lot of what we have learned is based on the reaction to what the military did in the 1950s through the 1970s,” he said. “They didn’t really care so much then, and they left us with a lot of stuff that we are still continuing to clean up to this day. We can’t keep doing that, it is wasteful. I think now we are more conscious of how expensive it is to repair damages as opposed to preventing them in the first place. The experiences of the past have made it clear that the most appropriate and sustainable way, the only prudent way to manage our environmental impact, just also happens to follow federal law.”
While Maine, and other states are taking precautionary measures to reduce their footprint, it does mean that the process for getting actions and trainings approved can be more lengthy as studies must be considered before exercises can take place.
“We look at all of our training areas in the state and see what training will be happening,” he said. “We have to look at all the impacts that training will have on the area. How will it affect the local and native animals? How will additional noise impact affect the area? What sort of waste will we leave behind?”
Flint said that while the department has now earned recognition when they received their reward, it was the soldiers and state employees that he and his team worked with who made it possible. It will be that same teamwork, and cooperation that allow Maine to continue to excel when it comes to being environmentally and fiscally aware of their actions.
Installations that win continue to focus on how to save taxpayer dollars while protecting and preserving the environment. Whether the DFE environmental crew is trying to protect endangered specials, protect forestlands, improve wastewater treatment, preventing damage to historic sites, or improve water usage, they have found cost effective mechanisms that support their efforts in these environmental programs. Best of all, they have been able to implement these programs and found them to be effective.
| Date Taken: | 09.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.09.2014 10:56 |
| Story ID: | 141545 |
| Location: | AUGUSTA, ME, US |
| Web Views: | 94 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Maine National Guard team protects environmental interests for state, by SSG Angela Parady, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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