[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 27, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H5172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LIVABLE COMMUNITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I came to Congress with a keen interest 
in having the Federal Government be a better partner in promoting 
livable communities, things that we can do with the private sector, 
with business, with individual neighborhood associations, with 
government at all levels to help make our families safe, healthy and 
economically secure. I found that one of the most powerful things that 
we can do in the Federal Government is to simply lead by example, for 
the Federal Government to model the type of behavior that we want the 
rest of America to abide by.
  We have had great fun with a very simple concept that would require 
the post office to obey local land use laws, zoning codes and 
environmental regulations. This legislation has already commanded the 
cosponsorship of the majority of Members of this assembly and has 
excited people around the country who see the post office as potential 
building blocks to stabilize their small towns, to stabilize 
neighborhood installations in over 40,000 facilities around the 
country.
  One of the best opportunities is to be found with the Department of 
Defense. Our Pentagon budget houses the largest inventory of 
infrastructure in the world. The value is placed at some $550 billion. 
It is a huge land inventory. The Department of Defense is the third 
largest repository of Federal lands, but unlike BLM or the U.S. Forest 
Service land, this is oftentimes intensively managed. There are some 
12,000 properties in the inventory of the Department of Defense right 
now that is eligible for historic building status. Over the course of 
the next 30 years, there will be 50,000 more. These facilities 
represent important aspects of military history and important elements 
that lead to actually building the components of communities. We have 
seen around the country base decommissioning arise as a larger and 
larger issue where they have to be closed and recycled, turned over to 
the private sector where there is an opportunity here to revitalize 
communities. Where at one point this was fought by local communities 
who felt that they would be losing an opportunity for economic 
development and security, we are finding as is the case in the 
transitioning of Fort Ord to private ownership that this can actually 
be a tremendous source of job generation, new housing and facilities 
that can make a difference for the community.
  Camp Pendleton is the only significant open space between Los Angeles 
and San Diego. It is home to some 17 endangered species requiring 
special stewardship on the part of the military establishment. In the 
area of housing, here too is an opportunity. There is an interesting 
initiative taking place in the Department of the Army under the 
leadership of Under Secretary Apgar looking for ways to use the private 
sector to be able to finance and upgrade and design quality housing 
that our military employees deserve.
  In my own district in Portland, Oregon, there is an opportunity to 
decommission Navy ships that employs family wage jobs and modern 
environmental technology to make sure that these ships are dismantled 
in not only a cost effective but an environmentally sensitive way as 
opposed to what some would do, simply tow them overseas and allow them 
to be disposed of in Bangladesh under who knows what standards. It is 
simply not a responsible activity on our part.
  And then there is the issue of unexploded ordnance. Throughout the 
United States, there are areas where we have used land for training 
purposes that are filled with bombs and shells that have not exploded. 
At the current rate, it is going to take us 100 years to be able to 
decontaminate, to be able to deal with this problem of unexploded 
ordnance.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that throughout the military establishment, 
there are challenges and opportunities for the Federal Government to 
promote more livable communities, a better environment for the men and 
women who serve in the military, and to protect our environment by 
providing leadership by example.
  I invite my colleagues to join us the evening of July 20 at the 
National Building Museum for a discussion in greater detail dealing 
with how the military can promote livable communities.

                          ____________________