Book excerpt: The United States Air Force, has long been engaged in a wide variety of operations dealing with toxic and hazardous materials. The Department of Defense (DOD) has issued Defense Environmental Quality Program Policy Memorandum 81-5 which requires the identification and evaluation of past hazardous material disposal sites on DOD property, the control of migration of hazardous contaminants, and the control of hazards to health or welfare that resulted from these past operations. This program is called the Installation Restoration Program (IRP). The IRP will serve as a basis for response actions on Air Force installations under the provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. Phase II involves a comprehensive preliminary environmental and/or ecological survey to define and quantify the presence or absence of contamination that may adversely affect public health or the environment.