Australian defense delegation discusses environment

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Curtis Bowling, director of Environment Readiness and Safety, Office of the Secretary of Defense, hosted a executive-level environmental delegation from the Australian Department of Defence last week at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

According to an OSD memorandum calling for JBER participation in the delegation visit, the March 10 and 11 event was to include briefings on mission sustainability and climate change adaptation best practices, protection of endangered species, mission overview briefs and base tours.

Bowling said partnership with Australia and other countries' militaries is vital in sharing knowledge about environmental issues impacting the world's 
militaries.

"Environmental problems facing the military are not just unique to the United States," he said. "I think there's value in partnering with other nations of the world to understand how they're dealing with specific problems, so we can share other lessons learned."

Bowling's Australian counterpart, Terry Weston, Assistant Secretary Estate, Policy and Environment Branch, said he 
agrees.

"Environmental issues in the military sphere pose specific challenges," Weston explained. "Particularly because of the type of materials that we typically use - explosive materials, heavy metals and the like - and there isn't as much experience in the civilian sphere as we have in the military."

Bowling said he was proud of where the military in Alaska fits in the DoD's larger environmental portfolio.

"(Alaska) is a jewel, it's one of the crown jewels of the Department of Defense's environmental programs," he said. "I think it's also on the leading edge when we look at things like mission sustainability - how that's linked to the environment - as well as some of the future changes like climate change and how the military and society in general have to adapt to that."

The first subject presented during the visit was invasive Polynesian and Asian house rats at the Pacific atoll base of Wake Island.

Though perhaps a far cry from the arctic climate of Alaska, the tropical installation is under the purview of JBER's 611th Air Operations Group and lies in the same general region as Australia.

Matt Moran, 611th Civil Engineer Squadron, said the rats pose a threat to indigenous species and to military infrastructure.

The squadron plans to eradicate them by eliminating food sources and through the use of rodenticide.

Moran said in a study required by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, a placebo was implemented in the same manner the rodenticide is planned to be introduced, and the rats ate the placebo at high rates while local birds and animals did not.

He said the rodenticide is planned for implementation in May of 2012 and biosecurity tactics - measures to ensure more rats are not introduced to the island by visiting aircraft and vessels - will be implemented.

"We don't want to have a successful eradication, then reintroduce the rats," Moran 
said.
Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Hoversten, 611th CES commander, discussed the hurdles and rewards of using alternative energy at remote radar sites spread through out the state.
"These are unique challenges," he said of the green initiatives. "We have some tremendous opportunities. There are also tremendous limitations."

Hoverston said the main challenge posed to alternative energy in Alaska is the fact the main power grid stretching from Seward to Anchorage to Fairbanks does not reach the state's outlying areas, requiring micro-grid and point production for their energy needs.
"In Wyoming, you can have large wind farms and when the turbines are spinning, everyone is happy," he said. "When the turbines are not spinning, the coal-fired power plant down in Fort Collins picks up the slack. We can't do that here. If the turbine doesn't spin, we've got a problem."

In order to work around not being able to fall back on a wider grid, Hoversten said some remote sites are installing wind-diesel hybrid diesels, reducing energy consumption while allowing the use of diesel as a backup.

Additionally, excess energy produced by the wind turbines can be stored as hot water for heating.

Tommie Baker, 673d Air Base Wing public affairs, spoke about partnering with native villages and tribes.

Baker said he hosts 13 restoration advisory boards across the state, a town hall forum designed to address clean up efforts at former DoD sites throughout the state, and to take those concerns to the proper agencies.

"We're coupling with the communities, with the businesses and the tribal entities," Baker said. "It's a sounding board more than anything else. It's not a decision-making entity."
Weston asked several questions concerning military relations with Alaska Natives, underscoring the importance of similar relations in Australia.

"Working with the indigenous communities is a challenge and an opportunity for us," Weston said. "It's a fundamental responsibility that we do it properly."

Just before lunch, delegates convened an office call with Air Force Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, Alaskan Command commander, to speak about climate change, environmental remediation, joint basing and exploration of the arctic regions where the general said there is an estimated $30 trillion in natural resources.

"Australia is like (Alaska), where you have a phenomenal expanse and at the same time, limited infastructure," Atkins said to the Australian delegation. "It's the same here, we have roads that go to the major cultural center - Anchorage, Fairbanks, Valdez ... and beyond that, you can't get there unless it's by plane."

Weston said the delegation was his second trip to Alaska after visiting the state last year with his wife for vacation, and said he felt the military partnership paid dividends early on.

"To have exposure to the military sphere and see how you operate and see how you're addressing environmental and cultural heritage challenges is a real eye-opener for us," Weston said. "I had no idea that anyone in the world was being as progressive as what I've already seen here in Alaska."