[CPEO-MEF] Delahunt takes on Section 8149

[Pauline Simon <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

[Posted by Lenny Siegel. I am sorry if this turns out to be a duplicate.
I can't confirm that the original went out to the list, and it's
time-sensitive. - Lenny]

-From the Office of Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Massachusetts)
For Immediate Release: October 22, 1999

DELAHUNT URGES CLINTON VETO OF DOD APPROPS BILL
Rider Would Gut Environmental Enforcement at MMR, Nationally

Washington, DC -- Congressman Bill Delahunt today urged President
Clinton to veto a pending appropriations bill because of a provision,
slipped into the measure at the eleventh hour, which would gut
environmental enforcement at the Massachusetts Military Reservation and
across the nation.

The two-line provision -- which never arose during relevant House or
Senate hearings -- appeared only after both chambers completed
consideration of the FY2000 Defense Department appropriation. The
anti-environmental rider was added during joint conference deliberations
convened to work out differences between the two versions. The bill,
which Delahunt opposed on the House floor, is now on the President's
desk.

The provision would effectively shield the Pentagon from fines or
penalties for violations of environmental standards. It would be
effective for the duration of fiscal year 2000, which runs until
September 30 -- which Delahunt said "is like unilaterally disarming the
police."

"An essential part of our collective momentum has been the consensus
which derived from public confidence in the commitment and capacity of
federal enforcement mechanisms," the Delahunt letter stated. "A blanket
exemption, as contained in the Defense Appropriations rider, would
irresponsibly degrade that confidence -- and disrupt the pace of work
toward understanding the scope of the remediation challenge."

"With the DOD measure now on your desk, I urge you to weigh the
consequences of this rider on public health for Cape Cod and across the
country," he wrote. "For my part, this provision made it impossible to
support the overall appropriations bill on the House floor; if it
becomes law, I will devote myself to its repeal next year. In my view,
its prohibitions would cut the teeth -- and heart -- out of
environmental enforcement, on the state as well as federal levels."

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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