April 7, 2004

CONTACT: Arthur Stamoulis
(215) 567-4004 ext. 222

BUSH ADMINISTRATION SEEKS PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXEMPTIONS FOR DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE INSTALLATIONS
Exemptions Would Cover Clean Air Act, RCRA, Superfund

Philadelphia, PA - Yesterday, for the third time in as many years, the Bush Administration's Department of Defense (DoD) asked Congress for exemptions from the nation's leading clean air and toxic waste laws. These exemptions deal with military installations in Pennsylvania and around the country, many of which are contaminated with toxic hazards and unexploded munitions.

"The Department of Defense has admitted that the exemptions they are requesting have nothing to do with military readiness. They seem to forget that these laws are needed to protect Pennsylvania's military personnel, their families and area communities from serious public health and environmental impacts," said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director of Clean Air Council, a statewide environment organization. "Blanket exemptions from environmental laws are not a good idea, especially since case-by-case exemptions are already available on an as-needed basis."

This year, the Bush Administration asked for exemptions to the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Superfund. They asked similar exemptions last year, but Congress, finding little evidence to support the Bush Administration's claims that these laws hamper military readiness, turned them down. Congress did grant DoD exemptions from the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

"The Bush administration is attempting to use the war as an excuse for these long-sought, completely-unnecessary exemptions, but people will see through this. I suspect that Congress won't be foolish enough to risk threatening public health, especially the health of America's soldiers, in the middle of an election year," said Minott.

The DoD is currently required to adhere to environmental and public health laws, which include the cleanup of polluted military installations. The proposed health and environmental exemptions would exclude at least 8,087 operational ranges at 516 installations across the country, covering more than 24 million acres of land. According to DoD, this includes 10 installations in Pennsylvania with 116 operational ranges: Pittsburgh IAP ARS, Clinton Training Site, East Stroudsburg Armory, Fort Indiantown Gap - ARNG, Fort Mifflin, Indiana Range Wet Site, Keystone Training Site, Letterkenny Army Depot, Ridgeway and Scranton (Leach Range).

In a December 2003 meeting with officials from several western states, DoD acknowledged that there has never been an instance in which any of these laws have impacted military readiness and that preempting state authority was "not a matter of readiness, but of control.'

However, earlier that year Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had publicly claimed that without waivers to environmental laws, "we're going to end up sending men and women into battle without the training they need." (National Journal, 5/24/03) The Bush Administration repeatedly made this argument to Congress in their efforts to exempt DoD from health and environmental statutes.

"The military has long done an excellent job of protecting the nation without blanket exemptions from health and environmental laws. So long as it doesn't impact readiness, the military should abide by the same public health rules as everybody else," said Minott. "Pennsylvania's servicemen and women, their families and surrounding communities deserve the full protection that public health and environmental laws provide."

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