Sponsor:
Rep. David Harper-Pennsylvania, 12th District [R]

Co-Sponsors:

Rep. Ivan Karamazov-New York, 3rd District [I]
Rep. Todd Heath-Oklahoma, 5th District [R]

Committee: International Relations and Armed Services Committee

Short: To repeal several enviormental protectection laws on military bases that severly hamper the training of our troops.

Amendments;
1. Fort Bragg: a. Repeal the law requiring soldiers to maintain 250 ft buffer around ALL trees.
b. Also repeal law requiring vehicles to be kept to 50 feet from trees
c. Repeal law that requires soldiers to refrain from sounds that might disturb bird, such as gunfire and vehicles being operated.
d. Repeal law that allows for only two hours of training on any part of the base and to use only small-caliber blank ammunition.

2. Fort Hood: a. Repeal law preventing foxholes from bring dug on 70% of the base.
b. Repeal law that prevents soldiers from using smoke, flairs, or other pyrotechnic devices on 25% of the base.
c. Repeal law that prohibits soldiers from using camouflage on on 2/3 of the base.

3. Camp Lejeune: a. Repeal law that prevents the Marine base from using beaches due to turtle nesting season. (One of the primary missions of the Marines is amphibious assault.)
b. Marine Corps Air Stationg Yuma: a. Repeal law that prohibits marines from training at night because they might come across a desert tortoise at night. (Most fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq occurs at night)

4. Camp Pendleton: Repeal law that only allows the marines to use 1 out 17 miles worth of beach to protect endangered species such as the tidewater goby, the gnat catcher, and the fairy shrimp.
b. Repeal law that prohibits Marines from using all avaible terrain in land for training to protect a seabird.

5. Low Frequency Active SONAR: a. Allow US ships to use this SONAR because studies have shown that it does not harm marine mammals. It is also the only way to detect ultr-quiet diesel submarines operated by China, North Korea, and Iran.

6. Vieques, Puerto Rico: a. Allow the Navy to use it as a military range it is one of the few areas where the armed services can train together on realistic terrain.
The Navy only uses 3% of the island for training purposes. The Navy also had extensive programs to protect the enoviorment before enviormentalist said that the Navy was harming the enviorment.

7. Coronado Island: a. Repeal law that limits Navy SEAL training because an endangerd bird uses the island 7 months out of the year.

8. Pacific Missle Range: a. Repeal law that declares a portion of the facility a critical habitat to protect a species of endangered grass. Ballistic Missle Defense testing is severely compromised by this law.