Media Contacts
Cat Lazaroff
Communications Director
(202)
772-3270
Not a journalist but need help? Contact our Member Services
team:
1-800-385-9712
Sign up for our Press List
Get Defenders Headlines
Get the latest wildlife conservation news and information... right when we post it online.
For Immediate Release
Lawmakers Reject Bipartisan Compromise On Environmental Exemptions For Department Of Defense
WASHINGTON , DC -- The House of Representatives today passed a proposal that would allow the military to ignore key provisions of two key laws protecting America’s wildlife: the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Lawmakers included the exemptions, requested by the Department of Defense, and rejected a more moderate, bipartisan compromise passed by the Senate this summer.
"Put simply, these exemptions are unnecessary," said Mary Beth Beetham, Legislative Director at Defenders of Wildlife. "Independent studies have shown that environmental protections laws do not harm national security or military readiness. This is a simple case of the Bush administration, helped by its friends in Congress, concocting a way to skirt environmental laws that they oppose."
"We’re extremely disappointed that Congress sided with the Bush administration on this matter instead of siding with American public which overwhelmingly opposes these exemptions,"continued Beetham.
In July the House passed legislation that would exempt the DOD from the critical habitat provision of the ESA and strip key protections from the MMPA. However, the Senate version of the DOD authorization bill included much more measured language on environmental exemptions, rejecting the DOD’s proposal for a blanket exemption and instead adopting a bipartisan compromise on the issue. The Senate had also opted to leave proposed changes to the MMPA out of the defense authorization bill altogether.
However, despite the strong opposition of some lawmakers, the majority on the conference committee threw out the Senate ESA compromise, choosing instead to finalize language that sounds like the Senate’s language, but which would have the same detrimental effect for species on military installations as the House language. The majority went even further a field on the MMPA exemptions, ignoring the Senate’s desire to have this issue decided by the committees of jurisdiction and instead dramatically expanding the Administration’s request for exemptions from major provisions of the law to include not only the DOD, but other federally funded marine mammal research as well.
"No federal agency should be above the law – especially the laws that protect our wildlife, clean water, and clean air,"continued Beetham. "I hope the full House and full Senate will recognize how dangerous these provisions are for our environment and reject this faulty conference report when it goes to them for a vote."
###
Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 450,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on environmental issues. For timely information on environmental issues, visit www.defenders.org and subscribe to DENLines, a free e-mail alert newsletter.
