Expeditionary combat proficiency is critical to being this Nation’s force in readiness. The Marine Corps’ ability to rapidly deploy and effectively complete the mission requires realistic and demanding training. While MCAS New River provides the necessary training support, we must also remain aware of how every day activities influence the environment. To that end, environmental awareness must be learned, sustained, and passed to all Marines, Sailors, civilian Marines, and families aboard MCAS New River.

To effectively train and protect existing training areas, we must comply with environmental regulations. We cannot take short cuts that may risk the loss of training areas and facilities due to poor environmental stewardship. Additionally, the long-term impact of any negligence today may result in restricted training and reduced readiness in the future. We must not allow that to happen.

MCAS New River personnel must actively protect and care for the environment. Environmental concerns must not be an afterthought in daily operations and long-term planning. It must be considered, planned for, and integrated into the operations conducted at MCAS New River. We will adhere to current policies and be prepared to implement new ones as they are promulgated. Let there be no confusion or misunderstanding: We must be in total compliance.

MCAS New River is firmly committed to pursuing the following environmental goals:

• Enabling current and future military readiness by ensuring continued access to the air, land, and water required for training;

• Maintaining a high quality of life for military personnel and their families by protecting them from environmental, safety and health hazards;

• Complying with all environmental laws, regulations and requirements;

• Proactively minimizing our impact on the environment through an aggressive implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the use of geographic information systems technology, pollution prevention efforts, education/outreach, and use of other resources in order to assess, identify, and correct environmental concerns in a manner that is effective and sustainable;

• Fostering partnerships with various stakeholders, including surrounding communities, planners, and developers, and local, state, and federal agencies and installations, in developing regional plans, activities, and actions that are not only cognizant of environmental interests, but are mutually beneficial to all parties;

• Aggressively cleaning up or mitigating contaminated sites caused by accidental releases or poor practices of the past; and;

• Striving for continual improvement in reducing our adverse impacts on the environment, by establishing and effectively implementing an Environmental Management System.