[2] A RAB can be formed when there is "sufficient and sustained community interest" and one of the following criteria is met:[3] Some communities at contaminated military installations may never form a RAB, or it may take decades such as Wurtsmith Air Force Base, which in November 2017, more than twenty-two years after being listed as a superfund site held its first Restoration Advisory Board meeting.
Each RAB is responsible for its mission statement, developing its own goals and objectives, and standard operating procedures, including recording, approving, and distributing meeting minutes.
The committee worked out principles which should apply to all persons and institutions involved in the process for making federal facility cleanup decisions.
The principles covered 4 key areas: 1) information sharing, 2) ensuring environmental justice, 3) establishing restoration advisory boards, and 4) understanding the federal budget process.
[9] In a May 2021 meeting of the Wurtsmith Air Force Base RAB, a conceptual site model presentation which ate up half of the three-hour event did not receive the most feedback.
[10] On one occasion, a County Commissioner was opposed to the formation of a RAB ( at Cannon Air Force Base), stating it would eliminate on-going quarterly public updates outreach efforts.