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Pentagon Seeks Release From Environment Laws
Military Says Training, Readiness Inhibited
By Eric Pianin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 30, 2002; Page A08
The Defense Department is pressing Congress for exemptions from many of the
nation's most important environmental laws, arguing that the restrictions
seriously hamper military readiness and training after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
If the Pentagon prevails, many training and bombing exercises would be
exempt from an array of laws governing endangered species, marine mammals,
migratory birds, clean air and hazardous-waste cleanup.
A House Armed Services subcommittee on military readiness last week adopted
two of the proposed exemptions, relating to endangered species and migratory
birds, as part of a 2003 defense authorization bill. The full committee is
likely to consider other changes when it begins action on the bill
Wednesday, according to environmental groups and congressional sources.
Defense Department officials said yesterday the environmental laws have
greatly inhibited training at military bases and bombing ranges and that the
process for obtaining presidential exemptions is too slow and cumbersome for
a government that is bracing for the possibility of renewed terrorist
attacks.
"If we wait until a 9/11-type of event that really does create an imminent
threat to the nation . . . to invoke those waivers, the troops that go into
battle won't have the realistic training they need," said Ben Cohen, the
Defense Department's deputy general counsel for environment and
installations.
A recent federal court ruling that halted bombing exercises on Farallon de
Medinilla, a Western Pacific island where migratory birds were being killed,
could affect other ranges where training involves live firing and bombing,
officials said.
The administration's call for broad environmental exemptions for the
Pentagon has been strongly opposed by environmental groups, governors and
state attorneys general, and public interest groups. The military is among
the nation's largest polluters, and it manages 25 million acres of land that
provide habitat for 300 species listed as threatened or endangered.
"This looks like one of the most dangerous things we're facing right now,"
said Gregory Wetstone of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It seems to
be an effort to broadly allow the military to ignore our environmental laws
despite the exemptions they already have."
Raymond DuBois, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and
environment, stressed yesterday that the proposed exemptions would apply to
a "narrow, unique category of military activity" and would not affect other
day-to-day operations, such as wastewater treatment, solid-waste disposal
and construction. "We will continue to shoulder our [environmental]
responsibility," he said.
Last week, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), chairman of the House military
readiness subcommittee, said the Defense Department was "asking us to follow
a reckless course" by waiting until the last minute to request changes
without giving lawmakers "a reasonable period of time" to consider long-term
environmental implications.
Hefley's subcommittee approved a provision to the defense authorization bill
that would exempt critical habitats on military installations from
restrictions under the Endangered Species Act, provided that a natural
resources management plan was in place. He also offered language, which the
panel approved, to amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to allow the Pentagon
to kill migratory birds that interfere with military readiness operations.
Under current law, the military can obtain permits to clear birds off a golf
course or an airport runway, but not to remove them to make way for military
exercises.
However, Hefley put off Pentagon requests that had drawn the sharpest
criticism from environmentalists and wildlife advocates, including
exemptions from the Clean Air Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and
hazardous- and toxic-waste cleanup legislation.
For years, the military has been increasingly concerned about environmental
"encroachments" -- conservation-based restrictions on how training bases and
bombing ranges can be used, according to Pentagon officials. Now it is also
facing opposition from conservationists fighting deployment of a
revolutionary sonar system designed to detect new "quiet" submarines. The
system can confuse or kill large whales and other noise-sensitive marine
mammals.
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