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A bill signed by Bush last Monday, Nov. 24, authorizes $401.3 billion in defense spending for 2004 and also rejiggers two key environmental laws that have irked the Department of Defense. The federal Endangered Species Act was rewritten to prohibit federal wildlife officials from designating areas as "critical habitat" if they are needed for military training (no small concern, given that more than 300 species of endangered plants and animals live on the 25 million acres of federal land managed by the DOD). The Marine Mammal Protection Act was also rewritten to permit use of Navy test sonar systems that may injure whales, dolphins, and other protected marine animals.
The legislation, according to a written statement by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will "provide greater flexibility to train our fighting forces in a realistic manner and allow us to carefully test and deploy critical technologies." When championing the measure on the House floor in November, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) went even further: "The real endangered species here is a 19-year-old Marine rifleman who needs the very best training that he can get here at home before he projects American power overseas." The closing words of Hunter's speech practically dripped with emotion: "This is very, very important legislation, freedom-to-train legislation, Mr. Speaker."
That jeremiad fell flat next to the commentary of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.). The ranking minority member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and a staunch opponent of the rule changes, Dingell got to the heart of the matter with a simple observation: "Over the last five years, our troops have toppled a dictator in Iraq, stopped a genocide in Kosovo, and defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan. Our troops prepared for those missions without exemptions from our cornerstone environmental laws." He cited recent comments from former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, a presidential contender, to corroborate these sentiments: "In all my years of service, complying with the environmental laws never compromised the military readiness of troops under my command. Additional exemptions aren't needed."
Clark's opinion is shared by a vast majority of the American public. According to a Zogby poll from May 2003 -- when America's pro-war sentiment was at its height -- the public opposed exempting the military from environmental laws by a margin of 84 to 10. Grist Magazine |
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