Military Scores a Victory in Long Battle Over Encroachment Issues

Congress has begun a tough fight over the issue the Navy League designated as its number one priority in 2003: encroachment. The long clash between the needs of the military services, which require room to train their forces, and the interests of environmentalists intent on protecting the habitat in and around military bases has severely diminished training and readiness.

To remove some restraints imposed by environmental regulations, the House Committee on Resources held hearings in mid-May and approved legislation to allow the military to train and test weapons systems while still protecting the environment and endangered species. The National Security Readiness Act of 2003 (H.R. 1835) would amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (EDA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. As the legislation was introduced, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) stated: "The primary mission of military bases is to prepare and protect the United States from our enemies now and in the future. We endanger ourselves if we fail to allow our bases to train our military men and women and test new weapons systems."

H.R. 1835 amends the EDA to prohibit further designations of critical habitat for endangered species in military areas contingent on the preparation by local military authorities of an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan. Already required by law, the plan explains how the military will protect the local habitat. H.R. 1835 also requires regulatory agencies to consider national security concerns as well as economic impact before additional military training and basing areas are designated as critical habitat. The new legislation would clarify the definition of harassment of marine mammals, as defined by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has proved difficult to enforce. It also exempts the Defense Department from the mammal protection act for national defense reasons after it consults with the secretaries of Commerce and Interior. The exemption also is included in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2004, which was also approved by the House Armed Services Committee in mid-May.

Mammal Protection Laws Affect Training

Military officials in recent years have provided the Congress with an extensive list of ways that mammal protection laws often adversely affect training and national security. For example, the Navy has for years been trying to test and deploy a new version of its Surface Towed Array Sonar System called Low Frequency Active. Without it, diesel submarines operated by North Korea, Iran, and China have more opportunities to approach and launch their weapons at U.S. Navy ships without being detected. The Navy is under a court order that restricts testing and training with the sonar, despite a six-year, $10 million study that demonstrated the system could be used with negligible impact on marine mammals.

Some Democrats and environmentalists are wary of this bill because they feel that it provides the Pentagon with a wholesale exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They charge that the exemptions would apply not only to training areas on bases, but also to military golf courses and swimming pools. Similar legislation was approved by the House last year in the defense authorization act, but was removed during conference committee meetings with the Senate. This year, however, the Senate has included a smaller package of exemptions, limiting the reform provisions of the EDA that put certain areas near bases off limits to development and other uses. Some Democrats say this is a facade for the incremental erosion of all environmental controls over a period of years.

The House Armed Services Committee also removed a provision sought by the Pentagon that would have increased the retirement age for senior military officers and eliminated term limits for the chairman and vice chairman of the joint chiefs and other officers in leadership positions, such as the chief of naval operations. Many committee members felt the change was premature, citing the lack of research on possible benefits of the proposal. Some felt that junior officers would respond by leaving the service fearing that reduced turnover at the top of the military hierarchy would diminish opportunities for advancement throughout the ranks.

Defense Spending Increased

The committee also added to the administration's defense spending requests for 2004. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), chairman of the Projection Forces Subcommittee, the panel responsible for most Navy and Marine Corps programs, added $1.7 billion to the president's $28 billion recommendation for programs under its jurisdiction. The Strategic Forces Subcommittee added $177 million to the already substantial Pentagon request for space programs and ballistic missile defense.

The increases included $182 million for an additional C-17 transport plane. The White House had requested $3.5 billion for 11 new C-17 aircraft. Spending on the Navy's Tomahawk missiles was increased by $376 million, and the budget account for the "affordable weapon" was raised $178 million. Bartlett called the weapon "a relatively low-cost cruise missile." The bill also includes an electromagnetic gun initiative, and multiyear procurement authorization for Virginia-class submarines. Additionally, it requires the Center for Naval Analyses to launch several independent studies on potential future fleet architectures for the Navy.

As approved by the House Armed Services Committee, the National Defense Authorization Act recommends military pay raises and an increase in active-duty forces for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. It also contains a provision that would delay the retirement of some Navy surface ships. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version of the authorization act, which contains $400.5 billion. The full Senate and House must approve the measures, which then will be rolled into a final bill to be presented to President Bush for his consideration. Although the bill authorizes Pentagon programs, money is appropriated in a later bill. *

Jeremy M. Miller is director of legislative affairs of the Navy League.