For Release: April 11, 1995

Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 205/544-0031)

RELEASE: 95-29

NASA's MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER SEEKS COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS

Officials at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama are soliciting information and opinions from local citizens as part of a comprehensive environmental cleanup program the Center is conducting.

The Marshall Center is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to identify and clean up any areas within its boundaries where the storage or handling of potentially hazardous chemicals (past and present) could affect public health or the environment. They are doing so under provisions of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as Superfund.

"We are interviewing dozens of people from Huntsville and surrounding areas, a very diverse group of people, to get a good cross-section of citizens' opinions and viewpoints," said Dr. Rebecca C. McCaleb, director of the Environmental Engineering and Management Office at Marshall. "We are talking to people from many different walks of life, asking their opinions about environmental issues, Marshall Center's role in the community, and the best way to inform area residents about NASA's environmental protection efforts."

McCaleb said the information gathered in the interviews will be used to develop a comprehensive plan to keep community members informed about environmental activities at Marshall and involve them in the decision-making process regarding those activities.

For more information about NASA's environmental protection efforts at Marshall, contact the Center's Public Inquiries office at 205 544-9492.