[CPEO-MEF] DoD Exemption Legislation

[Steve@miltoxproj.org]

I'd like to add a bit to Lenny's assessment of DoD's draft legislation 
to exempt military training and munitions from various environmental 
laws.

It's important to look closely at the definitions in the draft bill, not 
just the statutory changes.  The definitions are very broad, and open 
the door to including virtually all DoD activities in the exemptions.The 
draft bill defines "military readiness activities" broadly, to include 
not just live fire training but "all training and operations that 
prepare the men and women of the U.S. military forces for combat, and 
testing of military equipment, vehicles, weapons, and sensors for proper 
operation or suitability for combat use."

"Combat use" is defined to include not only actual combat, but:

"those support functions necessary for armed conflict and operational 
employment, including transportation of personnel, weapons, supplies, 
ammunition and other military material to the vicinity of actual or 
potential armed conflict, intelligence gathering in support of actual or 
potential armed conflict, command of and communication between military 
units, and similar activities necessary for the successful prosecution 
of armed conflict, whether or not conducted at the scene of actual 
conflict."

These definitions could allow the Pentagon to designate virtually any 
activity (including development, testing, maintenance, and 
transportation of troops, equipment, weapons, and munitions) as a 
"military readiness activity" protected under the legislation.

Steve

Steve Taylor
National Organizer
Military Toxics Project
(207) 783-5091 (phone)
(207) 783-5096 (fax)
P.O. Box 558
Lewiston, ME  04243-0558