Washington, DC
– U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today joined Senator Jim Jeffords
(I-Vt.), Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and other Members of Congress
in speaking out against proposed environmental waivers requested
by the Department of Defense (DOD) for the ostensible purpose of
improving military readiness. At a hearing of the Environment and
Public Works Committee on April 2, 2003, Wyden expressed his concern
that the Defense Department request stems not from a current need
to change the law to improve military readiness, but from a concern
that legal judgments in the future could hypothetically have an
impact on the military’s ability to conduct exercises not
yet conceived or planned.
Statement of Senator Ron Wyden
On Proposed Environmental Waivers for the Department of Defense
“The importance of adequate training and preparation to ensure
the safety and survival of American troops has been proven over
and over again in recent weeks. What has not been proven is that
additional environmental waivers are needed today to make that training
possible. Since the Vietnam War, the Department of Defense has had
waivers in numerous major environmental laws to allow for military
readiness, but has never found the need to invoke those waivers.
No sufficient justification has been provided for the new proposed
exemptions, which would certainly endanger the health and welfare
of citizens here at home while providing no apparent or immediate
benefit to the readiness of our troops. The Congress is being asked
to make a false choice between combat readiness and public health
and welfare. Both are possible – and in fact currently exist
– under the environmental laws as they stand.”
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