Environmental Compliance Assessment System (ECAS)

In response to the growing number of environmental laws and regulations worldwide, the U.S. Army has adopted an environmental compliance program that identifies compliance problems before they are cited as violations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency USEPA. Beginning in 1985, Major Army Commands MACOMs were required to conduct comprehensive environmental assessments at all installations on a 4-year cycle. The installations must also conduct a mid-cycle internal assessment. Because each MACOM was developing a separate assessment system, the Army mandated, through Army Regulation 200.1, one unified Army-wide assessment mechanism. The resulting system combines Federal, Department of Defense DOD, and Army environmental regulations, along with good management practices and risk management information, into a series of checklists that show 1 legal requirements and 2 which specific items or operations to review. Each assessment protocol lists a point of contact to help assessors review the checklist items as effectively as possible. The Environmental Compliance Assessment System ECAS manual incorporates existing checklists from USEPA and private industry. The Washington Supplement was developed to be used in conjunction with the U.S. ECAS manual, using existing Washington state environmental legislation and regulations as well as suggested management practices. Environmental Compliance Assessment System ECAS, Environmental Compliance Checklists, Environmental Law - Washington