Environmental Battle to Clean Up Military Bases
The Times’ April 10 article, “Old Bases Battle for New Life,” did an excellent job of describing the difficulties citizens have had in trying to get the military to clean up its toxic messes. At Ft. Ord in Monterey, for example, the Army did not agree to follow the federal Superfund law in locating and removing unexploded ordnance from the property until we filed a lawsuit on behalf of local residents.
What the story did not report is that now the Pentagon is trying to get Congress to change the Superfund law to prohibit citizens from bringing many lawsuits challenging these ineffective cleanups. Congress and the Bush administration should be working to increase public safety, not jeopardize it.
Joe Mann
Staff Attorney, National
Environmental Law Center
San Francisco
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