[CPEO-MEF] Cong. Blumenauer Speaks Out Against RRPI

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

[The following is a statement that Congressman Blumenauer on the floor of 
the House of Representatives this past Tuesday.  --Aimee]


DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EXEMPTIONS
REP. EARL BLUMENAUER (D-OR)

   Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, throughout history, nothing has had a more 
profound impact on the world than the consequences of war.  As we examine 
that history, we see that often the greatest devastation from war is in its 
aftermath: starvation, chaos, instability, retribution, unleashing a chain 
of events that continues centuries later, as we are currently seeing in the 
Balkans.

   The destructive power of today's military weapons, and the techniques 
used to develop and practice with them, can leave in its wake danger for 
generations to come. The consequences of past military action are not just 
limited to the mine fields in the Balkans or Asia or Africa. There is a 
toxic legacy right here in the United States as a result of two centuries 
of testing, training, and weapons manufacturing; from unexploded bombs to 
nuclear waste. This affects millions of acres of land, both inside city 
limits and in some of the otherwise most pristine countryside in America.

   The good news is that not only is our Armed Forces the most powerful 
fighting force the world has ever seen, but they know how to deal with 
environmental problems. Given the right resources and instructions, they 
are not just ready, but eager, to do a world-class job of clean up.

   The bad news is that as part of its approach to denying problems and 
avoiding the costs and consequences of its activities, this administration 
is pursuing policies that would avoid responsibility for environmental 
impact. For example, just last week, the subject of Thursday's hearing in 
the Committee on Armed Services was a proposal from the administration to 
exempt the Department of Defense from five key environmental laws from the 
Clean Air Act to the Endangered Species Act.

   These laws not only protect endangered species and eco-systems, they 
protect the health of people living on and around military bases. If the 
exemptions were granted, American taxpayers and State and local governments 
would bear the burden of clean-up costs and face public health risks from 
toxic contamination resulting from military operations. The evidence shows 
there is no reasonable case for such exemptions. The environmental laws 
already allow the Department of Defense to apply for exemptions on a 
case-by-case basis if they really need it. Both the GAO and EPA 
Administrator Whitman have testified that environmental laws have not 
affected military readiness. There is no evidence that the military has 
ever been refused an exemption from laws that were necessary and that they 
sought it.

   Even with the current environmental laws in place, sadly, the 
Department of Defense has too often fallen short of the mark on 
environmental and public health. A critical area that I have been working 
on deals with unexploded ordnance: the bombs, missiles, shells that are 
scattered throughout the United States in all 50 States. We have made 
progress, but we have got a long way to go. We have millions of acres of 
current or former military installations spread across the 50 States that 
contain unknown numbers of high-explosive military munitions that failed to 
explode when dropped or fired or which were buried for disposal.

   In 1998, the Defense Science Board found that we were simply ill 
equipped to address the unexploded ordnance challenge. We have been working 
with a bipartisan group of men and women in Congress to address this issue. 
We have been making headway, but we have got a long way to go. If we were 
to exempt the Pentagon from its responsibility for environmental clean up, 
it would be absolutely the wrong direction. Congress instead should be 
funding and encouraging the clean up, not exempting the Department of 
Defense from environmental laws.

   At the current rate of clean up, it is going to take us hundreds of 
years to be able to solve this problem. And that is at the current rate of 
funding. The President's budget just cut $400 million from the Department 
of Defense environmental programs.
   Putting off the toxic legacy of past military activities means we must 
delay the ultimate cleanup, we put more families at risk, and we set a 
terrible precedent as we ask others to obey environmental laws and respect 
nature at home and abroad.

   In preparing to protect this country, the administration should not 
give the Department of Defense authority to put at risk the environment 
that Americans cherish and the clean and healthy communities it demands. As 
the largest owner of infrastructure in the world, and sadly, as the biggest 
polluter, the Department of Defense should be setting the best example, not 
getting permission from Congress to cut corners on the protection of the 
environment and the health of our community. We should be working together 
in these troubled times to make our community healthy, safe, and 
economically secure.

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Aimee R. Houghton
Associate Director, CPEO
1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036
tel: 202-452-8039; fax: 202-452-8095
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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