COHEN LETTER

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

The following is a letter to Secretary of Defense Cohen as referenced
the earlier posting excerpted from Defense Environmental Alert.

Aimee Houghton
**************

 January 22, 1998

The Honorable William S. Cohen
Secretary of Defense
Department of Defense
1000 Pentagon
The Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301

 Re: E.O. 12114 -- Military-Related Environmental Impacts Overseas

Dear Bill:

While you were in the House and Senate, we had a chance to work together to
solve a number of environmental problems over the years. Now I write to you
in your capacity as the Secretary of Defense. Friends of the Earth is
concerned that the Department of Defense has never developed appropriate
procedures to implement Executive Order 12114 on Environmental Effects
Abroad of Major Federal Actions, which was signed nearly 20 years ago by
President Jimmy Carter. Partly as a consequence of this failure, the
Department of Defense is abrogating its leadership responsibilities in
managing the environmental effects of its mission outside our nation's 
borders.

Currently, the Department of Defense is confronting serious military-related
environmental problems with Bermuda, Canada, Okinawa, Panama, the
Philippines, and India. The fiscal year 1998 Defense Authorization Bill
contains seminal language codifying Department of Defense environmental
responsibilities overseas. Congress was forced to act because the
Department of Defense has been unable to manage these problems.

This coming year, by all indications, Congress will be forced to act again.
The time has come to implement E.O. 12114 for military-related environmental
effects abroad. The Department of Defense still does not have comprehensive
and reasonable mechanisms to meet its own needs, must less those of
Congress, the Administration, or affected nations. E.O. 12114 is a critical
and elemental tool to afford decision makers, including yourself and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the information they need to reflect and make
prescient diplomatic, national security, and international commercial,
competitive, and export promotion decisions.

While not a panacea to the environmental problems you are facing, E.O. 12114
does require the preparation of documents that are the building blocks of
responsible environmental management and stewardship. It also provides
a structure for the exchange of information with other federal agencies
and affected nations.

Friends of the Earth would like to meet with you to discuss these issues.
The Department of Defense must ensure that decision makers, including its
own personnel, have clear, useful mechanisms to handle these problems that
affect human health and safety, economic well-being, and shared
environmental goals.

Thank you for your consideration of this issue so vital to our nation's
national security in the 21st century. I look forward to meeting with you
at your earliest convenience.

 Sincerely,

 Brent Blackwelder
 President

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