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MILITARY WINS OK ON ENDANGERED SPECIES
Date: 09 Nov 2003
From: Otis Willie {warliby@pacbell.net}
By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer, November 7, 2003
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
* * *
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press
Date: 09 Nov 2003
From: Otis Willie {warliby@pacbell.net}
By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer, November 7, 2003
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
* * *
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press