Posted on: Tuesday, July 9, 2002

ISLAND VOICES
Navy's training is essential

By Adm. Walter F. Doran
Commander in chief, Pacific Fleet

In the coming months, Congress will decide on a number of small, but important changes to our country's environmental laws. The intent of these changes is to improve the balance between the necessity to conduct vital Navy training operations and compliance with environmental standards.

Contrary to statements by some environmental lobbyists, the Navy does not seek to weaken the laws that protect our maritime environment. On the contrary, the proposed changes will clarify ambiguous language in the laws and in so doing help the Navy to more effectively conduct its training operations while remaining a good steward of the maritime environment.

As a case in point, the Marine Mammal Protection Act that is up for reauthorization before the House contains language that is so broadly open to interpretation that taken in the extreme could challenge the legality of virtually all naval operations (and all civil commercial and recreational maritime activities, for that matter). For example, its definition of "harassment" has been interpreted to imply that the U.S. Navy should obtain special permits from government agencies any time its operations "might potentially disturb or annoy" a marine mammal, regardless of whether the activity results in any actual biological effects. An analogy would be requiring a permit for you to walk through your neighborhood because it might potentially cause your neighbor's dog to bark.

As witnessed by the 1987 attack on the USS Stark that killed 37 sailors, missile attacks pose a significant threat to Navy ships. Unquestionably, the need for our sailors and systems to be ready to defend against such attacks is real and present as we engage in the global war on terrorism.

Note that in April 2001, three ships from the USS Carl Vinson battle group deployed to the Arabian Gulf with degraded readiness in air defense. The root cause was determined to be an ad hoc interpretation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act by a single federal department that subsequently prohibited them from conducting their routine predeployment antimissile training. The department defined the missile training as "harassment," citing previous similar exercises in which they observed what they termed a "startled reaction" from sea lions during the launch of target missiles.

Despite the fact that there was no documented negative impact to the sea lions (who thrive on this particular training range), a liberal interpretation of harassment resulted in three ships that later participated in the first air strikes against terrorists in Afghanistan arriving on station with degraded readiness.

In challenging Navy training operations, regulatory agencies have been liberally applying a term in environmental law known as the "precautionary principle." A guilty-until-proven-innocent concept, the precautionary principle states that without scientific proof to the contrary, proposed Navy training operations are presumed to harm the environment. This has placed an extraordinary burden on the Navy to conduct extensive and time-consuming scientific research and survey operations to prove without a doubt that the Navy training in question is not harmful.

Imagine that in this time of war, vital Navy training is being delayed, curtailed and cancelled as a result of regulatory agencies invoking the backward "precautionary principle." Moreover, when unfounded research is demanded, it is you, the taxpayer, who pays the bills.

We demand that our environmental laws be complied with and that our environments be protected. For both these standards to be achievable, our environmental laws must be written in such a way as to be understandable, clearly interpretable and attainable.

The Navy regards itself as a good steward of the maritime environment where it lives and works. At the same time, the Navy is accountable to this nation to be ready for war. Our environmental laws must accommodate both end states. These small, but important clarifications in the laws will help achieve that.