Military gets break from environmental rules

Military gets break from environmental rules

(EXCERPT) President Bush is expected to sign a bill Monday easing restrictions on DOD that deal with whales and rare species., By Brad Knickerbocker Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor With two wars in two years and the threat of terrorism likely to continue, the US military wants all the help it can get in protecting national security. It is an ideal time, supporters say, to reduce the government regulations that can make it harder to be 'mission-ready.'

For others, however, this politically popular goal conflicts with long-standing values. Specifically, the Department of Defense authorization bill that President Bush is scheduled to sign Monday eases the military's responsibility under two important environmental laws.

The bill allows the Navy to redefine 'harassment' under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, making it easier to use low- frequency sonar suspected of harming whales and dolphins. The Pentagon's $401 billion authorization bill for the 2004 fiscal year also exempts military bases f...

U.S. and friendly nation laws prohibit fully reproducing copyrighted material. In abidance with our laws this report cannot be provided in its entirety. However, you can read it in full today, 23 Nov 2003, at the following URL. (COMBINE the following lines into your web browser.) The subject/content of this report is not necessarily the viewpoint of the distributing Library. This report is provided for your information and discussion.

What Bush and Rundsfelt seem to overlook is that by over-ruling the countries most senior court, the descision will drive some fanatics to bio-terrorism: If the Miltary elect to ignor International Law (which is what they propose), some will see this as ligitimate reason to use more extreme forms of protest ... how long will it be before some fringe bio- action faction declares a 1:1 retaliation for the deaths of very rare whales, one US sailor for one rare whale. Instead of making the US a 'safer' place, I fear this over-ruling will heighten the threat the Navy and others face.

At the end of the day, the US navy appears not to appreciate that the death of a pod of 12 beaked whales (as we saw in the Bahamas), equals the destruction of an entire population group. Put bluntly, its genocide, pure and simple.

Yet few people are asking the basic question of LFA sonar - why do we need this system ... precisely who is the enemy itsw suposedly needed to detect - there are no hostile superpowers left with stealt submarines. The AL Quida forces are unlikely to generate such a threat. So is America fearful of Europe turning against her? They are the only other nation with the submarine fleets - is the US really saying to Europe 'we don't trust you, our Nato allies'. HArdly tactful, is it Mr Bush.

But then, GW isn't the greatest interlectual the States has ever produced.

Its time for people to protest a little harder befoore things really get out of hand.