Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Environmental Protection Program, focusing on the extent of environmental problems at NASA research centers and corrective actions.
GAO found that: (1) NASA identified, through its internal assessments and environmental regulators' inspections, various environmental problems at its centers, including leaking underground storage tanks, exposed asbestos, and mercury spills; (2) such problems were caused by maintenance, industrial, and research processes and by previous military owners' practices at some NASA centers; (3) to correct such problems and comply with environmental regulations, NASA undertook or planned many costly projects, but it was difficult to determine the total project costs, partially because NASA inconsistently identified environmental costs in its budget; (4) it was difficult to determine the amount of cleanup that many contaminated sites needed, since NASA had not completed all the required studies; (5) NASA did not adequately implement its policy to prevent, control, and abate environmental pollution; (6) NASA delegated the responsibility of implementing its environmental pollution policy to its centers without establishing an agencywide strategy or an effective monitoring and management system; (7) without an implementation strategy, the quality and success of the centers' programs varied in terms of their emphasis on environmental issues and their commitment of resources towards the programs; and (8) a lack of headquarters management hindered NASA ability to recognize serious noncompliance problems, ensure appropriate problem investigations, and ensure that centers performed periodic environmental audits.
