Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library file holds National Security Council records on Presidential Determination No. 96-54, signed around September 28 to 30, 1996. The Determination renewed for one year an exemption under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The exemption covers the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, and applies to any requirement to disclose classified information, not to environmental standards. It was issued while the Kasza v. Browner and Frost v. Perry litigation was on appeal. Supporting memos from Anthony Lake, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and NSC staff recommend the renewal.
“The Pentagon”1 page
DRAFT September 29, 1996 SUBJECT: MEMORANDUM FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE Presidential Determination on Classified Information Concerning the Air Force’s Operating Location Near Groom Lake, Nevada The Secretary of the Air Force is authorized and directed to publish this Determination in the Federal Register. Nothing herein is intended to: (a) imply that in the absence of such a Presidential exemption, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) or any other provision of law permits or requires disclosure of classified information to unauthorized persons; or (b) limit the applicability or enforcement of any requirement of law applicable to the Air Force’s operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, except those provisions, if any, that would require the disclosure of classified information. I find that it is in the paramount interest of the United States to exempt the United States Air Force’s operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada (the subject of litigation in Kasza v. Browner (D. Nev. CV-S-94-795-PMP) and Frost v. Perry (D. Nev. CV-S-94- 714-PMP)) from any applicable requirement for the disclosure to unauthorized persons of classified information concerning that operating location. Therefore, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 6961(a), I hereby exempt the Air Force’s operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada from any Federal, State, interstate or local provision respecting control and abatement of solid waste or hazardous waste disposal that would require the disclosure of classified information concerning that operating location to any unauthorized person. This exemption shall be effective for the full one-year statutory period. Presidential Determination No.
Not linked to a story yet.
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 16 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.