[CPEO-MEF] MEDIA RELEASE: Communities Urge Environmental Protection as Priority in Defense Policy

[Laura Olah]

CSWAB

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

E12629 Weigand's Bay South - Merrimac, WI  53561

Phone (608) 643-3124 - Fax (608) 643-0005

Email: info at cswab.org - Website: www.cswab.org

January 6, 2009

 


PRESS RELEASE


For Immediate Release

 

For more information contact:


Laura Olah, CSWAB (608)643-3124


                                                               


 


Communities Urge Environmental Protection as Priority in Defense Policy


 


Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) has joined communities across
the country in urging President-elect Barack Obama to make environmental
protection a priority within the Department of Defense (DoD).  In a joint
letter to the Obama transition team, the groups urge the new administration
to create a high-level position at the Pentagon with responsibility for
energy, environment and sustainability policies. 

The letter, which has nearly 100 signatories, comes from current and former
residents of communities impacted by defense activities, current and former
defense employees and military personnel, and organizations that work with
these constituencies.  Their health, properties, and communities have been
affected by military pollution.   

This letter cites years of Bush policies that favored DoD to the detriment
of the environment.  In recent years the military has consistently pushed -
with some success - for legislative exemptions from environmental laws,
contested EPA cleanup orders, and undermined EPA's efforts to set risk
levels for military toxins. 

Upon taking office, Bush demoted the DOD environment position to an
Assistant Deputy Undersecretary post.  The groups ask that the Defense
Department create a high-level position within the Office of the Secretary
of Defense at the Undersecretary level.  The appointee should have a clear
commitment of protecting public health and the environment and building a
sustainable future.

Environmental leaders within DoD, the groups say, must recognize that the
military is not above the law and should be subject to environmental
regulation by U.S. EPA, states, tribal, and local governments like any other
entity.  Existing public involvement strategies - like the local Restoration
Advisory Board for Badger Army Ammunition Plant - should be strengthened and
expanded to assure that affected communities are involved in both local and
national policy decisions.  

CSWAB was organized in 1990 by neighbors of the closing Badger Army
Ammunition Plant and has been a driving force in the successful cleanup and
conversion of the plant to conservation and sustainable agriculture.

END

 

 

--

Laura Olah, Executive Director

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

E12629 Weigand's Bay South

Merrimac, WI  53561

(608)643-3124

Email: info at cswab.org

Website: www.cswab.org

 

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