Congress Launches Offensive on Environment Laws
Schlickeisen notes "Cynical Use of National Security to Promote War on Wildlife"
(05/21/2003) - WASHINGTON – Under the guise of promoting military readiness, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives today acted on separate bills to gut key environmental protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The bills are the House and Senate versions of the Defense Authorization bill, H.R. 1588 and S. 1050 respectively."In the name of national security, some in Congress and the White House are waging all-out war on environmental protections," said Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife. "Their cynicism is breathtaking, exploiting the fears of the American people for their own safety and security to launch a sweeping, stealth attack on endangered wildlife and marine mammals."
The House bill includes the unnecessary and damaging request by the DOD that would eliminate designation of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act on 25 million acres of land "owned or controlled" by the military, where some of the best habitat remains for more than 300 species on the brink of extinction. The provision would allow substitution of an inferior natural resources management plan that has no enforcement mechanism. An amendment proposed by Reps. Rahall (D-WVA) and Dingell (D-MI) would have improved the language but was disallowed by the House leadership.
But in a show of support for the Endangered Species Act, the Senate approved by 51-48 an amendment by Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) requiring that the management plans substituted for critical habitat meet certain conditions for conserving imperiled wildlife.
"The Bush Administration and some in Congress are using the real threat of terrorism and the war in Iraq to lay down a bogus smokescreen in an ideological attack against our nation's most fundamental environmental protections," Schlickeisen continued. "But the Senate vote shows that the majority in the Senate realize that the American public supports protection of endangered wildlife and opposes these unnecessary exemptions sought by the Bush Administration's Defense Department."
The House bill also carved out another significant exemption to the ESA for Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), exempting Fort Huachuca in Arizona from responsibility under that law for off-base groundwater pumping, threatening the existence of an ecological treasure, the San Pedro River. The San Pedro is one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on earth and supports habitat for hundereds of species. In 1988, Congress designated a 45 mile stretch of the river as the nation's first Riparian Habitat Conservation Area.
The House legislation also undermines another landmark wildlife protection statute, the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The bill would allow the Pentagon to bypass many of the law's requirements to protect whales, dolphins, sea otters and other marine mammals and to renew the exemptions indefinitely.
Schlickeisen noted that the military already can get case-by-case exemptions from these laws in the interests of national security. For the most part, the Pentagon hasn't even bothered to ask the president for these exemptions. He pointed to a June 2002 report by the General Accounting Office, which found that the DOD had failed to produce any evidence to show that environmental protections had significantly impacted military readiness.
In fact, close examination of the "cases" cited by Pentagon spokespersons involved in this campaign show a pattern of exaggeration, intentional mis-statement, and selective omission to make the military's case for ignoring endangered species protection. For example, the Pentagon's frequent claims that all 17 miles of coastline at Camp Pendleton in California are closed to amphibious landing training due to endangered species restrictions are simply false. In fact, the ESA limits on large-unit amphibious landings involve only a small fraction of the base's coastline and are largely seasonal. The Pentagon never mentions the main limits on its operations at Camp Pendleton, which include Interstate 5, an active railroad line, and the San Onofre nuclear plant.
###
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 430,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues.
Contact(s):
Brad DeVries, (202) 772-0237
