Fines.
Unit leaders and their subordinates are required to comply with all federal, state, and local laws to protect the
environment. Violators can be held personally liable for cleanup costs and civil or criminal penalties.
Violators include the actual person who causes the contamination and the commanders, supervisors, and
leaders who allowed the contamination to occur and didn't take immediate action to prevent or correct the
occurrence. The penalty can be up to ,000 for each day in violation and/or up to two years in jail.
After Action Report. After action reports (AAR) are an excellent platform for reporting environmental
considerations and can be incorporated into everyday work life through training, SOP, orders, mission
planning, etc. Upon completion of an exercise or other training function, always remember to include any
environmental considerations, good or bad, into the report.
Environmental Laws and Policies. As a Petroleum Supply Supervisor, it is imperative that your
subordinates are familiar with the local unit SOP and policies which should be explained and available
immediately upon arrival at post. These are often the most stringent and all-inclusive, as they tend to
combine federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies. The local and state environmental laws
vary by region and should be available to all subordinates as an important reference within the lab. The
major federal laws and regulations can be found in FM 20-400 (Military Environmental Protection).
Subordinates should be routinely quizzed and observed in the performance of their duties to ensure that they
are in some way familiar with the laws and regulations that are applicable to them. The host nation
environmental laws and regulations may be very numerous and complex, the same as the U.S., or almost
nonexistent. At any rate, given the fact that you may be in a foreign country where the penalties can be very
tough, it is a good idea to ensure that your subordinates are familiar with the laws and regulations of the host
nation.
PART B - ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENTS
The identification of environmental risks associated with a given mission or training exercise is one of the
most important functions you perform as a supervisor or unit leader. In the Army, as you all know, much
importance is placed on environmental stewardship and the idea of identifying possible risks ahead of time.
There are three major phases of environmental risk identification associated with training missions: actions
before training, actions during training, and actions after training.
Assessing Environmental Risks. Environmental risk assessment allows the commanders and unit
leaders to address environmental considerations using the following steps:
Identify the hazards to the environment during mission analysis. Environmental hazards are conditions
that have the potential to pollute the air, soil, water, and/or degrade natural/cultural resources.
Assess probability of environmental damage/violations using environmental risk assessment matrices.
Make decisions and develop measures to reduce high risks.
Brief the chain of command (to include the installation environmental office, if applicable) and
appropriate decision maker on proposed plans and residual risk.
Implement environmental measures by integrating them into plans, orders, SOPs, training performance
standards, and rehearsals.
Supervise and enforce environmental standards. Train to the standard.
The Environmental Risk Assessment Matrix provides an approach to assess the relative risk of generic
unit-level activities on specific environmental areas. Each environmental risk assessment matrix has
three main categories: environmental area, unit operation, and risk impact value.
Environmental Area.
Air pollution.
Archeological and historic sites.
Hazardous materials and hazardous waste.
Noise pollution.
Threatened and endangered species.
Water pollution.
Wetland protection.
Unit Operations (Company Level Activities).
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QM 5092
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