The Navy is internally discussing a measure that would allow the president, during wartime or a declared national emergency, to exempt certain Defense Department actions from compliance with environmental laws, sources say.
Friday, May 10, 2024
Friday, May 10, 2024
The Navy is internally discussing a measure that would allow the president, during wartime or a declared national emergency, to exempt certain Defense Department actions from compliance with environmental laws, sources say.
After abandoning his bid to become the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement chief, Donald Schregardus has been appointed as a top environment official for the Navy. Schregardus was sworn in as Navy deputy assistant secretary for environment Nov. 13, according to Navy sources.
The Bush administration has tapped Virginia's top environment official to head the Pentagon's environmental management program, according to state officials. John Paul Woodley, Jr. has served as Natural Resources secretary under Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore III (R), who is also the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
The military services are all engaged in efforts to integrate environmental sustainability into the acquisition process, emphasizing payoffs in both areas and looking to the example of private industry, service representatives said last week.
The White House Office of Management & Budget is circulating a draft base closure bill that lays out a process similar to previous BRAC rounds and doesn't appear to change any of the environmental requirements the military must adhere to in cleaning up closing bases, according to a source familiar with the document.
A number of environmental groups are circulating a sign-on letter to the Interior Department secretary in an effort to coalesce opposition to the Army's plans to expand a top training center in California, which they say will threaten endangered species, deteriorate already poor air quality, and eliminate the possibility of designating protected wilderness in the Avawatz Mountains.
Communities across the country have helped draft a bill that would fully waive the Defense Department's sovereign immunity and remove exemptions from federal and state environmental laws, requiring the same compliance as private parties.
Members of Congress and environmentalists are calling on the National Marine Fisheries Service to hold hearings on a controversial sonar system the Navy wants to deploy throughout much of the world's oceans and the Navy's application for a permit to incidentally "take" a small number of marine mammals through the sonar's use.
A recent review of DOD's financial statements by the Pentagon's inspector general reveals that the IG could not verify the $63.2 billion DOD reported as environmental liabilities for fiscal year 2000 "because of insufficient controls and inadequate audit trails."
Air Force and Defense Department officials are grappling over whether the Air Force should replace an ozone-depleting fire suppression agent in its fleet of F-16s with a controversial substitute chemical that would not harm the ozone layer.
The Air Force is warning environmental regulators and communities surrounding closing and realigning bases that it is struggling to fund its closing base cleanups for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Army auditors are recommending that the service reorganize its installations and environment secretariat and develop a new "corporate organization" under the chief of staff that will consolidate three environmental functions into one division.
In a major Endangered Species Act (ESA) case, environmentalists have amended a lawsuit and are challenging the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's decision to exclude tens of thousands of acres of military training land from an ESA critical habitat designation for a threatened California coastal bird.
The Army has finalized an environmental campaign plan aimed at integrating environmental stewardship into all aspects of the Army's mission, particularly as it transforms into a more responsive, deployable, agile and sustainable force.
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) is drafting sweeping legislation that would require the Defense Department to comply with all federal and state environmental laws to the same extent as other entities, wiping out any sovereign immunity the military still retains under some of these laws.