Military and Environment

DEMANDs for CLEANUP OF ALASKA MILITARY BASE

(ENS) - Conservation groups and a Native American tribe have filed suit to force the US military to clean up the Eagle River Flats training site in Alaska. Problems in the area associated with bombing. Part of Fort Richardson, the flats are used bombing and training exercises. There are more than 10,000 unexploded bombs and other munitions at the site. "The military has polluted our traditional lands and waters with impunity," said a spokesperson for the Chickaloon Tribe and member of Alaska Community Action on Toxics. "We are seeking to correct this serious environmental injustice and hold the military accountable for their dangerous actions." In 1994, the EPA placed Fort Richardson on the Superfund list of polluted sites. After thousands of waterfowl deaths, the Army began to clean up white phosphorus contamination from incendiary weapons, but it has not addressed the larger problem of continuing pollution from unexploded bombs and other munitions, the groups charge. Meanwhile, the Army continues to fire into the waters of the Eagle River delta without a required federal Clean Water Act permit.

NAVY EXERCISES HARM RIGHT WHALES

(ENS) - The Humane Society of the US (HSUS) is asking the Navy to stop bombing exercises in waters off the northeastern US adjacent to right whale critical habitat. Live bombing exercises should be moved to areas where they will not harm whales, the group says. Right whales are one of the world's most endangered species. About 300 remain, and the population has been declining. Scientific groups have urged their strict protection. In 1996 several right whales were found dead off the coast of Florida and Georgia near their critical habitat in the southeast. At the time, the Navy was conducting live fire bombing exercises nearby. For more information go to: www.nero.nmfs.gov/whaletrp.

MILITARY SHOULD OBEY ENVIRO LAWS, GROUPS DEMAND

(ENS)-The Military Toxics Project (MTP), a national network of grassroots organizations fighting military contamination in their communities, gathered in Washington to demand that the Department of Defense (DoD) abide by US environmental and public health laws. The DoD's request to be exempt from such laws was scheduled for debate in the Senate recently. The MTP warns exemptions would pose a significant threat to human health and the environment near military operations. To back up its plea, the MTP recently released a report titled "Communities in the Line of Fire: The Environmental, Cultural, and Human Health." Problems at military bases include munitions and firing ranges, which have contaminated hundreds of communities and tens of millions of acres of land and water. Tara Thornton, MTP executive director, said, "Giving the military carte blanche to pollute people's air and water and destroy the environment is not the way to go. The DoD can already receive waivers from most current environmental laws in the name of national security. Exemption is unnecessary and would guarantee that the military continues to be the biggest polluter in the country, putting thousands of communities at risk." The report shows that communities near military operations, as well as active duty personnel, veterans, and civilian workers suffer from elevated cancer rates, intergenerational health problems, contaminated food chains, bombing of sacred areas and destruction of wildlife habitat.