Department of Defense (DoD) Program

Program Overview

The Central Coast Water Board’s Department of Defense Program is part of the statewide DoD Program. The DoD Program supports the Central Coast Water Board’s mission by working in partnership with local, state, and federal agencies, and community stakeholders, to provide regulatory oversight for investigation and cleanup at federal facilities where pollutant releases have occurred.

The DoD Program is funded by Federal Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA) funds and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) funds that the military set aside beginning in the late 1980s for environmental restoration and cleanup. California regulatory agency staff costs are recovered directly from the military through the Defense and State Memorandum of Agreement, Cooperative Agreement (DSMOA CA); which provides the funding structure that allows for state agency staff to participate in the cleanup process at military facilities.

The DoD Program follows the investigation, cleanup, and closure process laid out by the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The CERCLA process provides a systematic investigation, decision making, remediation, and closure framework that ensures public participation and compliance with state and federal applicable, relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs).

Pollution-affected media at DoD facilities can include soil, sediment, groundwater, surface water, soil gas, and indoor air. The pollutant types encountered are diverse and may include: solvents, pesticides, heavy metals, fuel constituents (e.g., gasoline, diesel, aviation gas, motor oil, rocket propellent-1 [RP-1] etc.), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), perchlorate, and emerging contaminants such as 1,4-dioxane and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Currently, the Central Coast Water Board DoD Program consists of four staff (3 technical and 1 senior program manager) that perform DoD-related work for the six DoD facilities listed below. DoD Program staff can be contacted by email at RB3-DoDProgram@waterboards.ca.gov. Additional case information is available for these DoD facilities on the State Water Resources Control Board Geotracker Online Database at the links below.