Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has asked Gov. Juan N. Babauta to help provide the nation’s military with the “most realistic training possible,” as he spelled out the Pentagon’s initiative that will allow the armed forces to again train on Farallon de Medinilla.
Rumsfeld, in a letter to Babauta, said the fiscal year 2003 Defense Authorization Bill, or H.R. 4546, includes the “Readiness and Range Preservation Initiative” which aims to to “clarify” the reach of several environmental laws.
Environmental laws that have been applied to military testing and training activities threaten readiness without a “commensurate benefit to the environment,” Rumsfeld said.
“Congress is considering legislation to ease some of these restrictions and I wanted you to be aware of it,” Rumsfeld told Babauta.
Babauta said the CNMI government continues to support the military’s use of Farallon de Medinilla. “We have been advised to express our support and not to get involved in (the litigation),” he told Variety.
A federal court earlier issued a 30-day preliminary injunction on the live military exercises on Farallon de Medinilla.
On May 1, the U.S. House Armed Service Committee included provisions in the Defense bill that would exempt the military from some of the nation’s environmental laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
