SAVE THE WHALES
SAVE THE WHALES
STOP THE NAVY NOISE!
Activist E-Mail Alert for Navy LFA Sonar Campaign
International Marine Mammal Project, Earth Island Institute
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Below is the LA Times version of the story that appears in today's S.J.
Mercury News.
Published Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News
Report: Pentagon wants species laws eased
BY KENNETH R. WEISS
AND DEBORAH SCHOCH
Los Angeles Times
The Pentagon is moving toward asking Congress to rewrite the Endangered
Species Act and other laws so that military training exercises can be
exempted from restrictions to protect sea turtles, desert tortoises,
shore birds and other rare creatures, according to documents leaked to the
press.
Military officials have said they would like more flexibility in
environmental rules, in large part because of growing friction between
these protections and training exercises on California's military bases,
including Camp Pendleton, Fort Irwin, Point Mugu and the Naval Amphibious Base on
Coronado Island.
Glenn Flood, a Pentagon press officer, on Wednesday said he could find no
one familiar with the documents, which were provided by Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility, an environmental group made up of former
government employees.
``This document exists, but whether it's an official Department of
Defense document, I'd have to say it's not, based on what I've heard,'' Flood
said. ``I haven't talked to the top people. But the worker bees, who are doing
these things, aren't aware of it.''
Surrounded by urban sprawl, military reservations with expanses of open
country have become de facto wildlife refuges for rare and endangered
species.
Yet officials contend that the armed forces are being penalized for being
good stewards of their land. Laws to protect these last refuges are
obstructing their plans to drop live bombs, to fire weapons, maneuver
tanks and conduct war games and other exercises designed to keep troops ready
for battle.
``We are definitely moving out with action plans,'' said Rear Adm. Larry
Baucom, the Navy's director of environmental protection. ``We are looking
at the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.''
He said the Navy would like to see definitions clarified to make them
more compatible with the military's central mission: national defense.
``How do we balance our environmental stewardship with training and
maintaining national security?'' he said.
The answer proposed by Defense Department documents is to rewrite the
Endangered Species Act so the secretary of defense could ``grant
exemptions for reasons of mission readiness.''
© 2001 The Mercury News. The information you receive online from The
Mercury News is protected by the copyright laws of the United States.
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Mark J. Palmer
Assistant Director
International Marine Mammal Project
Director
Wildlife Alive
Earth Island Institute
300 Broadway, Suite 28
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 788-3666 x139
(415) 788-7324 (fax)
Email to: mpalmer@mother.com
Website: http://www.earthisland.org
For Information on Attending or Hosting
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1-888-481-7888
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