Pentagon pollution (US lawmakers want exemption for US military operations from the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions).

Fresh on the heels of US government attempts to exclude the Pentagon from parts of the Ottawa Landmines Treaty, US lawmakers have moved to exempt US military operations from the international Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In May the US House of Representatives voted unanimously for an amendment to the 1999 Defense Authorization Act that "prohibits the restriction of armed forces under the Kyoto Protocol." According to an InterPress Service report, Republican congressman Benjamin Gilman, who introduced the amendment, stated that the Kyoto Treaty would "exert pressure on future administrations to curtail defence operations and training."

The Kyoto document already allows exemptions for greenhouse gases emitted during international police actions and humanitarian missions. Pentagon officials argue that these exemptions also provide for a broad interpretation of exempted US military action since, in the Pentagon's view, UN operations include "multilateral operations not expressly authorized, but consistent with, the UN Charter, such as Grenada and Panama." [Defense News, June 1-7, 1998] (The US led invasions of the two countries in the 1980s, neither of which was sanctioned by the UN Security Council.) Members of the US House of Representatives were not convinced by Pentagon assurances, however. In a move similar to Congressional approvals of military spending not requested by the Pentagon, the US lawmakers voted to demand a specific exemption for US military operations.

A Pentagon exemption would effectively remove one of the world's major polluters from the jurisdiction of the Kyoto Treaty. Based on 1994 figures the Pentagon budget exceeds the Gross National Product of all but 13 of the world's nations. The Defense Department accounts for 73 percent of the energy use of the US government, used for a vast network of military installations and for running notoriously fuel-inefficient equipment like bomber aircraft, warships and battle tanks.

The Pentagon exemption may be moot in any case. Although the US has signed the Kyoto treaty, the required ratification by Congress is unlikely in the near term.