Military training gets break from environmental rules.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold

After years of complaining by Pentagon officials, Congress is easing some of the environmental rules that limit how U.S. military services can train their personnel.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives have passed versions of the 2004 defense authorization bill granting the services a measure of relief from such legislation. It is the second year in a row in which they have done so.

Military leaders have long argued that such changes are needed, because environmental regulations are interfering with combat training.

The Defense Department has 25 million acres of land on military bases, explained Raymond F. Dubois, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment.

"Now, this land is set aside by Congress specifically for military activities," he said at the National Defense Industrial Association's 29th Annual Environmental and Energy Symposium in Richmond, Va. But there is a problem, he added.

"Military training lands remain undeveloped in order to serve as maneuver and live-impact areas or buffer zones," Dubois said. Because the lands are undeveloped, however, they become "attractive habitat for all manner of flora and fauna."

In fact, most military bases were established in remote areas before or during World War II. As surrounding properties are developed, the bases are becoming the last refuges for many endangered plants and animals, Dubois said. Defense Department installations, in total, are home to about 300 protected species.

"The reason [the Marine Base at] Camp Pendleton has such an extensive endangered species habitat is that largely in Southern California the critters have no other place to go," he said. "The urban sprawl ... is apparent to anyone who flies at night from Los Angeles south to San Diego. All of a sudden, you see a 17-mile black spot with no lights, surrounded by a blanket of light." That black spot is Camp Pendleton.

Under federal law, once the services discover endangered species on their facilities, they must protect them, even if it means restricting military operations, the Defense Department claims. Some examples:

* At Fort Bragg, N.C., home of the 82nd Airborne Division, the Army has been ordered to protect trees for the red-cockaded woodpecker by restricting bivouacking, live fire and digging of foxholes.

* A portion of the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, has been designated "critical habitat" for an endangered species of grass, which the Navy officials say could "severely compromise" ballistic missile defense testing.

* Of 17 miles of beach at Camp Pendleton, only 1,500 meters can be used for amphibious training because of environmental restrictions. A proposed critical...