Pentagon Seeking Looser Environmental Laws
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U.S. Seeking Looser Environmental Laws
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 2, 2005
Filed at 6:39 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP)—The Bush administration is asking Congress to amend three environmental laws to reduce their impact on military ranges after failing to win the changes last year.Administration officials circulated among federal agencies their proposed language for changing the laws in a Jan. 6 document obtained by The Associated Press. The language calls for the same changes that stalled in Congress last year.
Defense Department officials want the Clean Air Act amended so that any additional air pollution from training exercises wouldn’t have to be counted for three years in the state plans for meeting federal air quality standards.
The document says that under the current law ``it is becoming increasingly difficult to base military aircraft near developed areas.’’
Other changes sought are in the Superfund and the Solid Waste Disposal Act. The Pentagon opposes having to remove unexploded ordnance from its operational ranges. It also wants to delay cleanups until after contamination spreads beyond military boundaries.
Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said the White House Office of Management and Budget was taking the lead on the three requests. ``It’s not in our hands,’’ he said Wednesday. OMB officials had no immediate comment.
The Pentagon spends about $4 billion yearly on military environmental programs.