Environmental Spending on U.S. Army Bases Halted

WASHINGTON, DC, May 28, 2004 (ENS) - Army bases across the United States have been ordered to halt anti-pollution and wildlife protection spending, according to an internal memo released Thursday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Citing mid-year fiscal shortages due to “fighting a war on several fronts, maintaining combat readiness on others, and transforming our warfighting force …being executed simultaneously,” Major General Anders Aadland, head of the Army’s new Installation Management Activity command, sent a memo to all garrison commanders on May 11 ordering immediate cutbacks in “discretionary” spending on environmental protection and other items including personnel, travel and training.

Environmental protection will be curtailed. General Aadland directed, “Take additional risk in environmental programs; terminate environmental contracts and delay all non-statutory enforcement actions to FY05.”

“This is an order to base commanders authorizing pollution of American soil when it saves money,” said PEER Executive Director attorney Jeff Ruch, pointing to General Aadland’s “take additional risk” language.

“Protecting America’s land, air and water is not a secondary mission that should be shirked when budgets get tight,” Ruch said.

"I know that some of these actions will be painful," General Aadland wrote. "I also know you understand that we would not go to these severe measures if we had a choice but we do not."

"Although I hope these severe cutbacks are short lived, I cannot promise you that we will not have to maintain them for the remainder of the FY," the general wrote.

In his memo, General Aadland notes, “All reprogramming fences are lifted to allow reprogramming of funds from ... environmental or other accounts restricted in previous FY04 funding guidance.”

Reprogramming means that funds that Congress appropriated for specific purposes will be used for other purposes, although it is not clear that Congress has approved this redirection of spending.

Congress is now reviewing Pentagon requests for exemptions from the Clean Air Act and federal toxic control laws. This year, as in the last two years, the Pentagon claims that these anti-pollution measures hurt military readiness and that military safeguards are sufficient to protect the environment.

“The Pentagon asking for additional environmental leeway is like the habitual drunk driver lobbying for liquor sales to be extended after midnight,” commented Ruch. “The Pentagon is now the planet’s most prolific and persistent polluter; its record makes a compelling case for more oversight, not less.”

U.S. Army bases cover some 11.8 million acres in the 50 states, an area roughly the combined size of Vermont and New Hampshire. Military bases from all the services, called Defense lands, total some 25 million acres, an area approximately the size of the state of Kentucky.

Read the memo from General Aadland to all Army garrison commanders online at: http://www.peer.org/Military/armyslashesenvironment.html