| President's
Message
Rebalance
Security and Environmental Needs
Our sea services urgently need the support of
the public and Congress to resolve a difficult and potentially dangerous
problem. Critical defense
development and training programs are being delayed or curtailed as our
nation approaches a turning point in the war on terrorism.
The Navy and Marine Corps are besieged by over-zealous
environmentalists that have employed vaguely-written regulations to delay
or cancel key
weapon development programs, severely reduce the size of usable military
training
areas and diminish the opportunities for realistic training.
For example, deployment of an advanced sonar system
has been delayed for more than six years because of unproved assertions
that it will damage
marine mammal populations. This sonar--the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor
System, Low Frequency Active, or SURTASS LFA--would substantially improve
the Navy's ability to detect quiet diesel-electric submarines of the
type
deployed by North Korea and Iran. Locating those subs is a top Navy priority.
At Camp Pendleton, Calif., only one mile of the
17-mile beach is available to practice amphibious landings using all
Marine Corps combat vehicles.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to designate critical habitat
on 65 percent of the space at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif.
and on 56 percent of Camp Pendleton, Calif. Those lands would then be
off-limits to military training.
The story gets worse. The Fish and Wildlife Service
proposed in October 2002 to designate large tracts of military land on
Guam as a critical
habitat to protect endangered species such as the Mariana fruit bat and
the Micronesian
kingfisher. However, none of the species to be protected is present on
Navy land on Guam.
There is a grievous imbalance between our need
to protect our environment and our national security. Adm. Walter F.
Doran, commander of the Pacific
Fleet, stated last July that "in this time of war, vital Navy training
is being delayed, curtailed and canceled" partly because regulatory
agencies are invoking the "precautionary principle" that defense
organizations accused of environmental misdeeds are guilty until proven
innocent. Far worse are special interest groups that attempt to portray
the Navy and Marine Corps as environmental predators.
Over the years, the Navy and Marine Corps have
been excellent stewards of our environment. Their two million acres of
land are home to about
185 threatened and endangered species that are protected by 130 full-time
natural
resources specialists. The Naval Air Station, Key West, Fla., has made
Herculean efforts to nurture the endangered population of the Lower Key
marsh rabbit. Wood storks are thriving at Naval Submarine Base, Kings
Bay, thanks to the Navy's enlargement of their habitat and rookery. The
Naval
Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., last year was the proud winner of an Audubon
Society Environmental Award because of its work with the Osprey population.
Those marvelous darting seabirds, the marbled murrelets, are doing wonderfully
at the naval station in Jim Creek, Wash., and the Naval Surface Warfare
Center, Crane, Ind., has teamed up with environmental organizations to
foster population growth of the Indiana bat, the bobcat, and the bald
eagle.
That same diligence and care have been applied
to the development of SURTASS LFA. To ascertain the feasibility of safely
deploying this sonar
system,
the Navy in 1997 funded a $10 million independent research program by
scientists at Cornell University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
They
concluded it would not adversely affect marine mammal populations over
time. The National Marine Fisheries Service agreed with that conclusion
in May 2002. To further protect marine mammals, the Navy would alter
the operation of the sonar under certain conditions. Nonetheless, the
testing
of SURTASS LFA is restricted by court order.
Environmental protection laws have played a key
role in national efforts in recent years to clean the air we breathe
and the water we drink. Organizations
such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Audubon Society are
partly responsible for the comeback of the bald eagle, the American alligator
and the peregrine falcon. We applaud those achievements and support their
goals.
However, it would be foolish to continue the endangerment
of our national security in the name of environmental protection. These
are perilous
times. Our military forces recently drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan
and routed the treacherous regime in Baghdad. Many of the al Qaeda's
leadership
have been eliminated. Others were captured and have found it convenient
to talk about the whereabouts and future plans of their fellow terrorists.
These are among the events that have brought us
to a turning point in the war on terrorism. The top ranks of the al Qaeda
have been weakened.
This
murderous organization can be crushed, given the requisite skill and
determination.
To make that happen, and to train for other eventualities,
our forces must continue to prepare for the kaleidoscopic array of asymmetric
threats
that
will confront them. There is no doubt that military training disrupts
the environment. War is a violent enterprise. But in recent months we
have
witnessed the extraordinary national benefits of maintaining a well-trained
force that prepares for our defense in areas carefully selected and set
aside for that purpose. Our nation needs forces that are humane and highly
skilled and fight with the precision that Americans expect.
To achieve that end, we need to correct the imbalance
between our environmental laws and national security requirements. Congress
can help in several
ways. For example, the Marine Mammal Protection Act's vague definition
of "harassment" of
marine mammals, which includes "annoyance" and "potential
to disturb," should be changed to encompass biologically significant
behavior. The sea servicesand the nationwould benefit greatly
if Congress would allow our military forces to substitute Integrated
Natural Resources Management Plans for critical habitat designations.
A pending
change to the Endangered Species Act would require that such a plan be
prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
These changes to existing laws are contained in
H.R. 1588, the 2004 Defense Authorization Bill, which in mid-July was
before a House-Senate conference
committee to resolve differences in House and Senate versions of the
legislation. We urge Congress to support these changes.
Navy Leaguers can help by telling Congress of
their strong views about the need to rebalance our national security
and environmental efforts.
It was only 22 months ago that the very worst environmental criminals
of our time leveled the World Trade Center, set the Pentagon ablaze
and slaughtered
2,976 of our citizens and friends in cowardly sneak attacks. We learned
again the great value of military preparedness. Our sea services
need our help and support. Let's give it to them.
Sheila M. McNeill
National President
Navy League of the United States |
