[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5195-5196]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE FOR MORE 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. Madam Speaker, national security is a powerful 
concept; and in the name of national security, we have done 
extraordinary things, perhaps none more momentous than the victory 
during World War II and the huge mobilization that it required.
  At times we use national security to cover up things perhaps we 
should not do, some tragic mistakes abroad, not being truthful with the 
American public. Here at home, we have occasionally used national 
security to rationalize good things we probably should have done 
anyway. Our interstate highway system was done in the name, in part, of 
national defense, or the student defense loans in the 1960s and 1970s, 
or research that led to the Internet.
  Today there is no greater threat to our national security worldwide 
than is posed by pollution, poverty, disease, and the unrest and misery 
that they produce.
  We have serious environmental problems here at home that are the 
terrible hidden legacy of 60 years of our defense activities, among 
them, in my own Pacific Northwest, the terrible pollution at the 
Hanford Nuclear Reservation, or Rocky Flats in Colorado, chemical 
weapons, toxic waste.
  One of the most powerful ways to protect the environment and make 
community livable is for the Federal Government to lead by example, 
whether it is maybe requiring a post office to obey local land use laws 
and zoning codes and planning regulations, or have the GSA lead by 
example, being an exemplary landlord in our communities around the 
country, or maybe having the Federal Flood Insurance program reformed 
so it does not subsidize people living in places where God has 
repeatedly shown that he does not want them.
  But the biggest, richest, and most visible opportunity to lead by 
example is to be found in the Department of Defense, whether, as I 
mentioned on this floor before, dealing with model ways to 
environmentally sensitively dismantle ships, or look at the 
opportunities posed by base closings around the country.
  Our population is going to double in the course of this century. 
There are many great examples of over the long haul how, done right, 
base closings can help save the taxpayers' money and revitalize 
communities, not devastate them.
  Army facilities nationwide are rich in historic buildings, 
structures, and districts. These historic properties potentially 
represent a significant and valuable heritage not just for the Army but 
for the Nation and particularly for the community in which they are 
located.
  The National Trust for Historic Preservation has helped develop a 
methodology for this and has helped launch more than 1,500 commercial 
districts

[[Page 5196]]

around the country to be revitalized. There is a tremendous potential 
for them to work with us nationally with military projects.
  Look at Fort Ord, with 28,000 acres, the largest military base closed 
in the country. It is now the campus for California State University at 
Monterey Bay. More than 1,100 new jobs have been created already. Seven 
thousand acres have been turned over to the Bureau of Land Management 
to be preserved as open space.
  Unfortunately, since the base was closed in 1993, the housing has not 
yet been returned to the community for reuse due to burdensome 
bureaucratic requirements and, even though some progress has been made 
in the course of this last year, not before much damage has been caused 
to the vacant housing and loss to the community.
  We could speak further about the opportunities before embarking upon 
new projects. I think it is important for the military to deal with the 
legacy of the problems we have now.
  One such legacy of military operations is the threat left by bombs 
and shells that did not go off when fired for testing and training. 
Commonly we are talking about 5 or 10 percent. It is estimated it is 
going to cost $15 billion to remove this unexploded ordnance in the 
United States alone. At the rate of $150 million that we are spending a 
year now, it is going to take over 100 years to deal with this problem.
  The budget for environmental security in the Department of Defense is 
$4 billion out of a total budget of $305 billion. It is time for us to 
take a step back to make sure that, if we can in the name of politics 
give the military money it cannot afford for projects that it does not 
need or want, then in the name of environment and livable communities, 
we can pay the bill and do it right.
  This is a special opportunity for the Department of Defense and 
Congress. We should not take shortcuts with the environment in the name 
of national security. Instead, the Department of Defense should lead by 
example for more livable communities.

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