Congress passes conflicting military exemptions. (International Marine Mammal Project).

As of this writing, the US Senate and the House of Representatives have passed different versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, with different versions of the Pentagon's cherished exemptions from environmental laws. All in all, what passed was not good, but due to heroic efforts by environmental groups in DC and effective grassroots activism, the Pentagon lost exemptions from major pollution and health laws.

The House version, passed on May 23, 2002, is by far the worse bill. The House did act to strip amendments placed in the bill by the reactionary majority of the House Resources Committee and its new chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo (R) of Stockton, CA. Oddly enough, the author of the amendments to "fix" the Pombo mess was his fellow California Republican, Rep. Duncan Hunter of the San Diego area.

But the House did leave in other bad amendments. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) "small take" permit process, currently limited to small numbers of marine mammals in restricted geographic areas, would be broadened for anyone, so there would no longer be numerical or geographical limits to the government issuing a "small take" permit. Also, the House version retained the provision proposed by the Pentagon to allow Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his successors to exempt the military from the MMPA for any reason.

The House version of the Defense Authorization Bill further exempts military lands from consideration as critical habitat under the ESA, and exempts the Navy and other military agencies from the MMPA in several important ways. It does not include other exemptions sought by the military for other environmental laws (Clean Air Act, Superfund law, etc.), nor does it expand the exemptions to other federal agencies and industries, as the House Resources Committee leadership wanted.

Unfortunately, the House Rules Committee, controlled by the Republican majority, refused to allow any environmental amendments to the Defense Authorization Bill on the floor except for Rep. Hunter's amendment.

The Senate passed its own version of the Defense Authorization Bill on May 22, 2002, leaving out everything except the exemption of military lands from the critical habitat designations of the Endangered Species Act. The original version would have replaced ESA's critical habitat designation with a much weaker designation for use on military lands. Environmental groups won an amendment putting some legal teeth back into the military's wildlife habitat plans.

Both bills give President Bush the authority to begin developing and testing "bunker busting" small nuclear weapons, ending a US moratorium on development of new nuclear weapons.

Over the next few weeks, a Conference Committee consisting of House and Senate members will reconcile the two bills. If the Conference Committee reaches agreement, the House and Senate will take an up-or-down vote on the Conference version of the bill. Observers believe the Republican-controlled Congress will try to reach agreement and send a final Defense Authorization Bill to the President for his signature by July 4.

The Defense Authorization Bill is a fiscal bill to fund the continuing programs of the Pentagon. As such, it is a "must pass" bill for Congress and cannot be filibustered. As a result, Republicans have taken advantage of the bill to attack unrelated environmental laws in the false name of "national security."

Take action: Express your opposition to the Bush administration's attempts to gut key environmental laws in the name of "national security" and military readiness." A strong nation needs a healthy environment! President George Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC 20500, [phone] (switchboard), [phone] (comment line) [phone] (fax), [e-mail]