Home / Missions / Environmental

District Environmental Program Links

The Corps Environment

The Corps Environment is an online quarterly produced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide information about Corps environmental actions, issues, policies and technologies. Click here to go to the Archive page to view the current and previous issues. 

For more information please contact Kristen Long at: Kristen.Long@usace.army.mil

Jetty Jacks placed in the Rio Grande Bosque

National Corps Environmental Program Overview

As the nation’s environmental engineer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages one of the largest federal environmental missions: restoring degraded ecosystems; constructing sustainable facilities; regulating waterways; managing natural resources; and, cleaning up contaminated sites from past military activities. Our environmental programs support the warfighter and military installations worldwide as well as USACE public recreation facilities throughout the country. In 2002, USACE adopted its seven Environmental Operating Principles, or green ethics, which continue to guide our environmental and sustainability work today.

USACE works in partnership with other federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions to find innovative solutions to challenges that affect everyone – sustainability, climate change, endangered species, environmental cleanup, ecosystem restoration and more.

USACE environmental cleanup programs focus on reducing risk and protecting human health and the environment in a timely and cost-effective manner. USACE manages, designs, and executes a full range of cleanup and protection activities, such as:

  • Cleaning up sites contaminated with hazardous, toxic or radioactive waste or ordnance through the Formerly Used Defense Sites program.
  • Cleaning up low-level radioactive waste from the nation’s early atomic weapons program through the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.
  • Supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by cleaning up Superfund sites and working with its Brownfields and Urban Waters programs.
  • Supporting the Army with the Base Realignment and Closure Act program.
  • Ensuring that facilities comply with federal, state and local environmental laws.
  • Conserving cultural and natural resources.

USACE is striving to restore ecosystem structure and processes, manage our land, resources and construction activities in a sustainable manner, and support cleanup and protection activities efficiently and effectively, all while leaving the smallest footprint behind.

Military Environmental Program

Military Environmental Remediation is an important part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

This mission area includes a wide range of cleanup programs, including support for other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies (Air Force, BRAC, Navy, and Marines) as well as several USACE-managed programs, including Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program, Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program (NALEMP), and the Restoration of Abandoned Mines Sites (RAMS). 

Descriptions of the programs managed by USACE, as well as the Army BRAC program, are included below.

FUDS - The Albuquerque District manages remedial investigations and activities at various former military sites in New Mexico and surrounding states as part of the Department of Defense's Formerly Used Defense Sites program. Click to learn more about the FUDS program and some of Albuquerque’s District's FUDS projects in the region.

NALEMP - In recognition of the need to address tribal concerns in the DoD environmental programs, Congress has, since 1993, inserted a provision in the DoD Appropriations Act requiring the DoD to devote funds annually to mitigate environmental impacts to Indian lands and Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)-conveyed properties.

BRAC  - USACE environmental cleanup programs focus on reducing risk and protecting human health and the environment in a timely and cost-effective manner. USACE manages, designs and executes a full range of cleanup and protection activities, supporting the Army with the Base Realignment and Closure Act program. USACE is striving to restore ecosystem structure and processes, manage our land, resources and construction activities in a sustainable manner, and support cleanup and protection activities efficiently and effectively, all while leaving the smallest footprint behind.

Interagency and International Support

Environmental Remediation - In addition to support for DoD agencies, the Albuquerque District can provide technical assistance to non-Department of Defense federal agencies, state and local governments, tribal nations, private U.S. firms, international organizations, and foreign governments through the Interagency and International Services (IIS) program. This work is often funded on a reimbursable basis and can include environmental remediation. Two of Albuquerque District’s IIS programs are detailed below:

  • Superfund - The Superfund program is run by the Environmental Protection Agency, and when called upon, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can manage cleanup efforts at Superfund sites. New Mexico works closely with EPA Region 9 and manages certain cleanup efforts in support of the EPA - which is the lead agency on any Superfund project.
  • Department of Energy Legacy Management (DOE-LM) - The Department of Energy Legacy Management (DOE-LM) is an organization tasks with fulfilling the Department of Energy’s post-closure responsibilities and ensure the future protection of human health and the environment. USACE currently supports the DOE-LM Program at several closed mine and tailing sites in New Mexico and the Four Corners region.

RAMS - The Restoration of Abandoned Mine Sites (RAMS) program utilizes U.S. Army Corps of Engineers environmental authorities to provide technical, planning, and design assistance to federal and non-federal interests in carrying out projects to address water quality problems caused by drainage and related activities from abandoned and inactive non-coal mines.