[CPEO-MEF] Pending Defense Bill Threatens Lake Mead Chemical Cleanup

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Utah
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Pending Defense Bill Threatens Lake Mead Chemical Cleanup
The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS -- The Bush administration is seeking military environmental
exemptions from Congress that critics say could help the Pentagon avoid
paying to clean up a toxic chemical leaking into Lake Mead.

"Yes, we need to stand by the military, but this is a major concern,"
said Alyssondra Campaigne of the Natural Resources Defense Council. She
said new legislation could exempt the Defense Department from
perchlorate cleanup in Nevada and 46 defense sites nationwide.

"The problem isn't going to go away just because the [Defense
Department] is exempt," she said.

Defense officials deny their environmental proposal would exclude the
cost of the perchlorate cleanup. Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood told the
Las Vegas Review-Journal the proposal applies only to active training
ranges and has no bearing on perchlorate.

The discussion goes on as the Defense Department is being sued by
Kerr-McGee Corp. to help pay for perchlorate traced to a rocket fuel
plant in Henderson, Nev. Lake Mead supplies southern Nevada with most of
its drinking water.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Mar/03252003/utah/41574.asp

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