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Military gets approval to ease protections for endangered species
By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 08, 2003 | No comments posted.
WASHINGTON - President Bush and the Defense Department won House approval Friday for easing some protections for endangered species and marine mammals.
One provision in the $401 billion defense bill amends the Endangered Species Act to prohibit setting aside any more "critical habitat" - lands needed for species to recover - on military installations that already have a plan for managing natural resources.
Another amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to lower the threshold on what can be considered "harassment" of a marine mammal. Until now the law has prohibited anything annoying or potentially disturbing; the new standard would be anything threatening survival or reproduction.
The Bush administration lost out on its bid, however, to relax some of the military's requirements for complying with the Clean Air Act and toxic waste laws.
The Pentagon has been seeking the changes because it maintains environmental restrictions are compromising training and readiness, but environmentalists say the nation's natural heritage is being sacrificed under the guise of national security.
Congressional auditors last year found little evidence to support Bush administration claims that military training is hampered by environmental laws.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, on Friday called the provisions "common sense environmental reforms allowing our troops to properly train."
Not so, according to Karen Wayland of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. "Exempting the Pentagon from these laws," she said Friday, "will allow the military to threaten whales, dolphins and other marine mammals with sonar and underwater explosives, and destroy the habitat of the endangered birds and mammals that live on the 25 million acres it controls across the country - with next to no environmental review."
Environmentalists routinely file endangered species lawsuits to force the government to designate more critical habitat. They also worry that the effects of low-frequency sonar, used for about 10 years, could broaden.
The House passed the bill, for the budget year starting Oct. 1, in a 362-40 vote. Senate passage is expected early next week, as Senate and House negotiators already agreed on the bill's language. It would then go to Bush for his signature.
---
On the Net:
Defense Department:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/environment.htm
NRDC:
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030312.asp
One provision in the $401 billion defense bill amends the Endangered Species Act to prohibit setting aside any more "critical habitat" - lands needed for species to recover - on military installations that already have a plan for managing natural resources.
Another amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to lower the threshold on what can be considered "harassment" of a marine mammal. Until now the law has prohibited anything annoying or potentially disturbing; the new standard would be anything threatening survival or reproduction.
The Bush administration lost out on its bid, however, to relax some of the military's requirements for complying with the Clean Air Act and toxic waste laws.
The Pentagon has been seeking the changes because it maintains environmental restrictions are compromising training and readiness, but environmentalists say the nation's natural heritage is being sacrificed under the guise of national security.
Congressional auditors last year found little evidence to support Bush administration claims that military training is hampered by environmental laws.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, on Friday called the provisions "common sense environmental reforms allowing our troops to properly train."
Not so, according to Karen Wayland of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. "Exempting the Pentagon from these laws," she said Friday, "will allow the military to threaten whales, dolphins and other marine mammals with sonar and underwater explosives, and destroy the habitat of the endangered birds and mammals that live on the 25 million acres it controls across the country - with next to no environmental review."
Environmentalists routinely file endangered species lawsuits to force the government to designate more critical habitat. They also worry that the effects of low-frequency sonar, used for about 10 years, could broaden.
The House passed the bill, for the budget year starting Oct. 1, in a 362-40 vote. Senate passage is expected early next week, as Senate and House negotiators already agreed on the bill's language. It would then go to Bush for his signature.
---
On the Net:
Defense Department:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/environment.htm
NRDC:
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030312.asp
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