[CPEO-MEF] Military and the environment

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Indiana
THE FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE
EDITORIAL
Posted on Thu, May. 22, 2003
Military and the environment

Military installations are among the worst polluters in the nation and
an unwise choice for any relaxation in environmental rules. Congress
must hold fast in opposing a bid by the Pentagon to exempt the military
from many environmental protection laws.

The military has sought the exemption in this year's defense
authorization bill that is nearing passage. The odds that current
environmental laws will survive have improved in the last few days. But
environmental lobbyists worry that the Pentagon will keep mounting
repeal efforts as long as the Bush administration continues to support
them.

Military installations have left a long and sordid track of
environmental problems around the nation. Some have made the list of
"superfund" toxic waste cleanup sites. Conventional toxic wastes left
behind by unexploded ordnance are only part of the problem.

The Environmental Protection Agency has identified chemical or
biological weapons at more than half of the nation's 16,000 military
ranges. The EPA estimates that up to 40 million acres, an area slightly
larger than Florida, may have been contaminated as a result of military
activities.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a senior attorney with the Natural Resources
Defense Council, recently cited a university study that estimates 20
million Americans in 43 states are drinking water tainted by a
carcinogen used in military missile fuel.

This editorial can be viewed at:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/5920060.htm

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