Army Corps studies military debris recycling on Native lands.

Byline: Gale Courey Toensing

Oct. 31--HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying the feasibility of using indigenous peoples' land in Alaska, Hawaii and the United States to build recycling facilities for military practice range debris.

The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, along with contractors Bering Sea Eccotech and Science Applications International Corp., have completed phase I of the Centralized Range Residue Recycling Facility Feasibility (CR3F) study, a $2.7 million project that has been conducted over the past five years.

The study selected 14 tribes they believed were most capable of supporting a CR3F business: two in Alaska, two in Hawaiian and 10 in the continental United States. The selections were based on land availability, size, location, business infrastructure, work force skill level and size and proximity to mills.

The study is ready to launch phase II, if Congress continues to fund the project, said Maureen Lawrence, CR3F project manager.

"The next step is to present this concept to the commanders at the active military installations who may benefit from these recycling facilities. Then we would need to develop memoranda of understanding between the [military] installations and the tribes that will be operating the facilities," Lawrence said in a release.

Range residue is the debris left from military munitions, targets, packaging, crating and other materials left on military practice ranges. The scrap needs to be removed for safety reasons.