🚀 go-pugleaf

From the PEER website. Pentagon whines about environmental regulations. Link to
Draft Memorandum http://www.peer.org/Military/DoDdraftdirective.pdf at the PEER
Site:


Press Release
For immediate release: Monday, January 13, 2003
Contact:  Kim McKeggie,  (202) 265-7337

PENTAGON READIES NEW ASSAULT ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
DoD "Outreach" Campaign to Secure Statutory Exemptions, Administrative
Rollbacks and Executive Order

Washington, DC — The Pentagon is mounting a major drive to secure broad
environmental immunity for its domestic training, weapons testing and other
“readiness” activities, according to an internal Department of Defense memo
released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). 
The memo outlines an “action agenda” for conducting “a multi-year
campaign,” including developing a Congressional “political strategy” for
“horse trading [and] coalition building.” 

The Pentagon plan, presented as “a consensus product” at the staff level
for presentation to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calls for —  

Ø      New statutory exemptions in the Clean Air Act, Marine Mammal Protection
Act, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act and federal toxic waste
laws;  

Ø      Relaxation of regulatory standards in the Clean Water Act, Clean Air
Act and federal wildlife protection laws.  The plan also calls for a new
Executive Order by the President to require all agencies to assess the impact
of any of their actions on national defense; and  

Ø      Creation of standards for invoking current national security exemptions
in environmental laws.   

In the last session of Congress, the Pentagon failed to obtain the same
statutory exemptions, despite a post-September 11th atmosphere in which
Congress granted almost all other military requests.  The memo attributes the
defeat of what it euphemistically calls “the sustainable range effort” to
being put on the “defensive” by environmental groups and the need “for
more sustained ‘Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield.’”  

The Pentagon contends that compliance with natural resource protection laws is
an “encroachment” on its readiness posture, since realistic training
exercises, particularly those involving live munitions, must be adapted or
scheduled to avoid nesting sites for    migratory birds, critical habitat for
endangered species or local clean air standards.  A recent General Accounting
Office report found that the Pentagon could not quantify the significance of
encroachments and is not consolidating and coordinating exercises so as to
avoid conflicts altogether.    

“The Pentagon is unquestionably the biggest polluter and most recalcitrant
environmental violator on the planet,” commented PEER General Counsel Dan
Meyer, a former US Navy gunnery officer.  “The Pentagon is the last place
that any sane policymaker should want to confer environmental immunity.”

###

Download a copy of the "Sustainable Ranges 2003 Decision Briefing to the Deputy
Security of Defense”. 

The GAO Report, Military Training: DOD Lacks a Comprehensive Plan to Manage
Encroachment on Training Ranges. GAO-02-614  June 11, 2002, is posted at 
http://www.gao.gov/



 
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