It really pisses me off that science (or whatever category a congressional study falls under) appears to have been ignored with regards to military training being effected by current enviromental laws. If it it wasn't broke, why fix it at the expense of the habitat's of endangered species?
This is nothing more than a manifestation of the "I know better"(regardless of fact) mentality that permeates the culture in currently in power.
The otherthing that really pisses me off is the lack of objective oversight with regards to the use of sonar. A more limited provision that would have allowed for it's use during wartime or a national security threat was rejected in favor of giving total, unfettered, deregulated control to the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, whom I trust as far as I could toss an Abrams tank.
Here it is from the first link:
Quote:
|
The legislation, part of a $401 billion defense bill, gives the secretary of defense the right to exempt from the provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act "any action or category of actions" undertaken by the armed forces. Currently, that requires the approval of the National Marine Fisheries Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The new law requires only that the defense secretary notify environmental regulators of his intentions.
|
It has not been proven that either of these measures are absolutley neccessary for national security. Saying otherwise is just empty rhetoric unless it is backed up with something more substantial than imaginary potential enemies.