[CPEO-MEF] War on environment

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Minneapolis, MN
Star Tribune
Editorial:
War on environment /
Needless loopholes for the Pentagon
Published March 26, 2003 ED26A

It's easy to overdo military metaphors these days, but there's no
denying that the Bush administration has been waging war on America's
environmental protections. Now it is using combat in Iraq to both
justify and obscure a new assault, which targets the fundamental laws
protecting Americans' air, water and wildlife.

Asserting that these seriously interfere with training and deployment,
the White House and Pentagon are asking Congress to grant the military
broad exemptions. They've had no trouble embedding the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, whose hearings bear the rubric,
"Operation End Extremism."

Extremism? The term might be apt if, say, the Endangered Species Act was
preventing the Navy from launching a fleet, or if the Clean Air Act was
forcing the Army to park its tanks. But the military can't seem to find
such examples.

This editorial can be viewed at:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/3781374.html

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