Internet-Based Environmental Management System for a U.S. Military Command

Command environmental staff use an Internet-based environmental management system to promote better communication and enhanced environmental performance across command installations.

Need/Opportunity

• Better communication between environmental staff at multiple installations
• Access to routine environmental documents
• Access to regulations and requirements

A U.S. military command oversees operations at installations across the country. These installations face similar challenges and issues related to environmental compliance. An efficient means for environmental specialists at these installations to communicate with each other is needed, so that efforts to resolve particular issues or create compliance documents are not duplicated.

Approach

• Design and develop secure Internet-based environmental management system
• Provide access to command directives, guidance, and regulations
• Provide installation-specific compliance and management program plans
• Organize information by installation and environmental media

Argonne's Environmental Science Division (EVS) designed and developed a Web-based environmental management system for the storage and retrieval of environmental data relating to the military command and its installations. The database-driven Web site provides access to command directives and guidance, links to state and federal regulations, and copies of installation-specific compliance and management program plans that the command and its installations deal with on a routine basis.

The system is organized by installation and environmental media. The system also contains links to installation Web sites, points of contact for each installation, tutorials, an acronym list, and a glossary. The Web site is encrypted, password-protected, and provides multitiered security for Web-based administration and content access.

Results

• Access to frequently used documents at a central location
• Repository of data for environmental impact studies

The system is being developed in cooperation with the installations and their support contractors under command environmental leadership. The system's central utility is storage and retrieval of frequently used and publicly available installation documents in an electronic library. Clicking on documents of interest transfers users to an electronic document database at a centrally located installation Web site, where documents can be viewed, searched, printed, and downloaded.

The system will also be a repository of environmental data used to support preparation of environmental impact studies. A prototype data repository has been prepared for one installation, and preparation of data repositories for other installations is expected to begin in 2003.

Benefits

• Increased communication among command installations
• Reduced operating costs
• Permanent, easily accessible document record
• Foundation for installation environmental management systems

The system is a research tool and one-stop shop to facilitate cooperation and coordination between command installations. The system provides command environmental staff who are spread across the country with quick access to key regulatory information, command guidance and directives, and environmental planning and management programs at sister installations. The Internet-based approach reduces operating costs. Further, the databases created can be used as permanent, easily accessible document records for each installation. The system will also serve as the foundation of an environmental management system at each of the command installations.