What action(s) is a Corps employee required to do if MEC is discovered during Corps work activities at a site?
This is not an easy question to answer. There are a lot of ifs attached to a question like this. Depending on the phase of the response process we are conducting when MEC is found and in the interest of public safety, we must either report the item to the property owner and advise them on the hazards of the item and who to notify to have the item removed from their property or we must have approved plans in place to dispose of such items. Emergency response is the responsibility of the active military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) community. They require that local law enforcement request their assistance since the military has no enforcement powers on private property. If a citizen does not want to have someone come and dispose of the item we do not have the authority to make them do it. However, if the item is unexploded ordnance (UXO) USACE is required to report the item to responsible authorities for that area (i.e., sheriff, fire chief etc.). All action taken should be documen
