AFMC environmental award nominees

  • Published
  • By Ron Scharven
  • AFMC Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Five Air Force Materiel Command units have been nominated for the Air Force General Thomas D. White Environmental Awards. 

The units are the 516th Aeronautical Systems Group, Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; the 96th Civil Engineer Group, Eglin AFB, Fla.; the 75th CEG, Hill AFB, Utah; the 78th CEG, Robins AFB, Ga.; and the 72nd Air Base Wing, Civil Engineer Environmental Management Division, Tinker AFB, Okla. 

Nominated for Pollution Prevention in Acquisition Award, the 516th AESG's P2 Integrated Product Team led the testing for alternatives to C-17 aircraft cadmium brush plating field repairs. Their efforts reduced maintenance time by 20 percent and maintainers' exposure to hazmat by 15 percent. The IPT qualified chrome-free landing gear parts resulting in a 25 percent life increase to the parts and a 50 percent reduction in hazmat exposure. The team qualified a new C-17 antenna installation sealant which reduced the curing time by 46.5 hours and increased aircraft availability by 10 percent. 

The 72nd ABW/CEVOE was nominated for their efforts in Natural Resources Conservation. The Natural Resources Team completed an unprecedented 6,600 tree inventory identifying hazard trees in the clear zone, glide-slope and transitional surface areas supporting flight safety and operations resulting in decreased risks to warfighters.
A volunteer team provided manpower for annual deer spotlight census. The trend data indicated population over carrying capacity and provided detailed harvest needs and supported depredation permits resulting in a deer herd crash and greatly improved herd health. 

The 75th CEG/CEV was nominated in the Environmental Quality Individual or Team category. All of the 112 installation restoration program sites are scheduled to close or to have final remedies in place by FY2001 well ahead of Air Force Goals. The flight trained more than 13,500 personnel in 43 courses on site specific environmental topics without instructors, saving time and money. They performed 2,500 air/hazwaste/hazmat self-inspections with no FY2007 enforcement actions. They demilitarized more than one million pounds of rocket propellant including the first 81,000 pound first stage Trident missile motor safely transported and demilitarized by open detonation for the US Navy
The 96th CEG/CEV was nominated in two categories--Environmental Quality (Non-industrial) and Environmental Restoration (Installation). All of the base's 119 IRP sites are closed or in final remediation eight years ahead of DoD goals. The base completed a vital Joint Strike Fighter noise modeling study for the JSF beddown portion of the BRAC 2005 Environmental Impact Statement. The base worked with Florida State Regulators to reduce monitoring requirements on a former landfill site from annually to every five years, instantly avoiding $800,000 in long-term monitoring costs. 

Robins AFB's 78th CEG/CEV was nominated in four categories; Pollution Prevention; Natural Resources Conservation (Small Base); Cultural Resources Management (Installation) and Environmental Restoration (Individual or Team). They converted the C-130 painting system to airless paint guns, saving $225,000 in material purchases, reduced volatile organic compound emissions by 9,450 pounds, paint volume by 40 percent and solvent used to clean the paint guns by 3,000 gallons per year. The Flight conducted a fish and wildlife habitat survey with the data being used to develop and implement a long-range management plan to promote wildlife diversity through habitat enhancement and to educate the public on the values of diversity. The Flight videotaped oral histories with members of the Ferguson and Newberry Families who owned the land before Robins became a military installation to better understand the history of the base. The base leads AFMC in restoration metrics, becoming the first Air Logistics Center to achieve "Remedy in Place" at all 42 ERP sites, years ahead of the Air Force goal.