Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Holds Hearing Military Encroachment on Environmentally Sensitive Areas

FDCH TRANSCRIPTS
Congressional Hearings
Apr. 2, 2003
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Holds Hearing Military Encroachment on Environmentally Sensitive Areas

CORNYN:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I come to this subject with a—the background of having been attorney general of the state of Texas for four years and certainly appreciate the importance of vigorous enforcement of our environmental laws, both state and federal. And I'm proud of the fact that up until yesterday, I believe, Mr. Chairman, this most recent record of $35 million in civil penalties for violation of the Clean Water Act that the state of Texas, under my administration, held the previous record...

(LAUGHTER)

... for civil penalties for violation of that act. So I wanted to make that clear because I certainly believe that vigorous enforcement is important.

But at the same time, I want to make sure that our troops are ready for the job that we have asked them to do. And I don't believe that we have to make a choice between people and critters. I don't believe this is a zero sum game. I believe that we can have a military force that is properly trained and at the same time respect the environment in which we all live. I just—I really reject the notion that some people care about the environment and other people don't because we all live and breathe and drink the water in the environment we have. And so I do consider myself very concerned about the environment as well.

But one of the concerns that—perhaps Mr. Cohen you can address this—that I believe this proposal is meant to address is the complications associated with lengthy, expensive diversionary litigation and the complications that arise because of litigation over the current law and the desire to see that the law be clearly expressed so as to avoid the necessity or the likelihood of litigation—interpreting just where the restrictions end and where freedom to train our troops begins.

Would you...

BENEDICT COHEN:

Yes, sir. Thank...

CORNYN:

... answer that?

BENEDICT COHEN:

... you. I would like to take the chance to answer that and also to try to put in perspective the suggestion that Congress should wait to act until actual adverse decisions have been handed down.

It's certainly true that this ongoing litigation is a tremendous drain on the resources of both the regulatory agencies, as—particularly as Judge Manson can attest, with respect to the enormous wave of critical habitat litigation that's cresting all over the country and also for DOD. And the fear that we have—the concern is that if at the end of this long, lengthy and expensive process there could be imposed crippling restrictions on military readiness that actually have relatively little or no environmental benefits to offset them.

And our view is that it's prudent for Congress to act now and that the risk of congress acting now is negligible because all we are asking Congress to do is codify existing regulatory policies and practices. It would be one thing if we were to come to Congress and say, "Please radically recast the environmental laws on the off-chance that we might lose a case in a few years." But it's quite different to say, "We have ongoing litigation in many instances across the country. We ask you—that challenges existing law—challenges existing regulatory policies of the states and EPA and our other federal regulators. Please stabilize this situation and act to clarify and concern—and confirm what the law is."

CORNYN:

Well, in fact, I know there have been some suggestions that this is a purely anticipatory action on the part of the administration, but in fact, as you may know, at Fort Hood in Texas, which has a large range of 200,000 acres over many decades, that large portions of Fort Hood are restricted from training due to a variety of encroachment factors. Endangered species, water, air quality concerns, noise levels all come into play, the net result of which is three-fourths of Fort Hood—some 150,000 acres—has some sort of restriction that impacts the ability of unit commanders to train forces there.

I might also just point out that the GAO report, which I believe is already part of the record, points out on page eight that, in fact, that current restrictions on training do affect the preparation and the readiness of our special operations forces—the very same forces who, by the way, just recently liberated Private Jessica Lynch from a Iraqi hospital.

But do you find, Mr. Cohen, that the military has also had to work around restrictions and that that has had an impact on the training and readiness?

BENEDICT COHEN:

Yes, sir. I think all of our commanders who have testified before Congress have affirmed that the cumulative effect of these work-arounds has been very serious. And it's our desire to stabilize the situation now before it gets worse.

CORNYN:

It looks like my time has expired, Mr. Chairman.