Date:         Thu, 6 Feb 2003 18:02:43 -0500
Reply-To:     Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
Sender:       Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
From:         Denise Ryan <Denise_Ryan@LCV.ORG>
Subject:      Interesting Article on Defense and Endangered Species
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NEW YORK TIMES
February 6, 2003
Defense Department Forum Focuses on Environment
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE


WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 - Even as the possibility of war with Iraq looms, Defense
Department officials took time out today to talk about spotted owls,
red-cockaded woodpeckers and slick spot peppergrass.

The attention to such exotic flora and fauna is part of the Pentagon's new
strategy to gain permission from Congress for exemptions from environmental
rules it says have bedeviled its training and readiness mission over the
years.

The Pentagon sought an exemption last year but failed. Now it is back with a
broader effort to garner support.

That was evident today at an environmental forum at the National Defense
University here at Fort McNair, where defense officials said the Pentagon
could adhere to its military mission while sharing the goals of
environmentalists.

Paul D. Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary, addressed the gathering, which
included military officials and representatives of environmental groups and,
in a departure for the military, was open to the news media.

"The challenge is nothing less than supporting the twin imperatives of
producing the best-trained military force in the world and providing the
best environmental stewardship," Mr. Wolfowitz said. "National security and
environmental security are mutually reinforcing."

At the same time, defense officials suggested that the urgency of their
military mission required an ability to override environmental rules.

"We're on a collision course with our national priorities," said Gen. John
M. Keane, vice chief of staff for the Army.

General Keane emphasized his point by recounting the performance of the 10th
Mountain Division in the major battle in Afghanistan known as Operation
Anaconda, in which hundreds of Al Qaeda members were killed. He said that
the Americans suffered few deaths because of their superb training, which
required live-fire maneuvers, particularly at night, that simulated the
conditions of war.

But the Endangered Species Act, he said, limited the use of military bases
for such training. "The Army hosts 170 federally endangered species on 94
installations," he said, adding that land on 12 installations had been
designated as critical habitat, including Fort Lewis, where 70 percent of
the land is habitat for the spotted owl.

"We're protecting the habitat and the critter has not arrived yet," he said.
"To me, a simple infantry guy, that doesn't pass the common-sense test."

For that reason, the Pentagon is seeking a blanket exemption from
environmental laws. Congressional aides said that draft legislation was
circulating among federal agencies for review and that it would probably be
introduced in the next several weeks.

Representatives of environmental organizations were skeptical of the idea
that environmental laws were inhibiting the military from accomplishing its
goals and said such an exemption was unnecessary.

Michael J. Bean, a lawyer with Environmental Defense, said that most
environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, allowed for the
defense secretary to declare unilateral exemptions but that no secretary had
ever done so.

"If they've got a problem, they should use the existing authority," Mr. Bean
said.

Brock Evans, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition, said
environmental groups preferred that exemptions were sought case by case
because it would force the military to prove its argument.

"No one wants to interfere with training, but we're not persuaded that,
except in one or two cases, it really is," Mr. Evans said. "Our fear is that
if they get an exemption here, what would prevent, say, the Forest Service,
which wants to log everything in site in the national forests, from getting
their exemption?"

Some members of Congress have also been skeptical. One of the harshest
critics has been Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, who
says the military has been exploiting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as an
excuse to skirt environmental laws.

"I have dealt with the military for years, and they constantly seek to get
out from under environmental laws," Mr. Dingell said. "But using the threat
of 9/11 and Al Qaeda to get unprecedented environmental immunity is
despicable."

He added, "We have fought two World Wars, the Korean War, Vietnam and the
Persian Gulf war with this law in place, and there is no demonstrated need
to exempt the Department of Defense now."

Raymond F. DuBois, deputy under secretary of defense for installations and
environment, said it would be ludicrous for the defense secretary to "walk
into the Oval Office every afternoon and say, `Mr. President, I have a new
training exercise at Camp Swampee that needs your waiver.' "

Imagining such a scene, he said, "The potential to disturb a sea lion on a
buoy as a destroyer is leaving San Diego harbor - got to get a permit for
that!"

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