14 DAY TRIAL // The citizens of Maryland are discontented by the US Army's constant failure to respect the timetable imposed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning up the polluting mess. Although army officials claim they take care of it, they say they're doing it at their own pace. The Pentagon resorts to higher political organisms in order to get law on their side.
The pollution caused by the US Army and the Pentagon affects approximately 25.000 sites which are spread in all of the US' 50 states. The problem is becoming more of a concern, since the Maryland Fort Meade military base's “cleaning solvents, pesticides, heavy metals, waste fuels and other hazardous chemicals,” together with the groundwater-contaminating perchlorate and arsenic are reported by the Baltimore Sun publication to pose a real threat to the American citizens who live close to the respective region. Because of the army's poor attempts to comply to the indicated cleaning program, Douglas F. Gansler, Maryland's Attorney General, sent them a notification of suing on behalf of the state.
Although Dave Foster, spokesman for the Army, states that “the U.S. Army remains fully committed to protecting the health and safety of those living and working both on Fort Meade and in the surrounding communities,” Pentagon officials don't seem to be impressed, claiming that the EPA exaggerates the pollution matters. They insist that tens of millions of dollars have already been allocated for cleaning purposes and they will continue to fund them as they see fit, in spite of EPA's warnings that pollution is “imminent and substantial”. It also seems that President Bush has forgotten all about his campaign promises related to all federal agencies respecting environmental laws. John D. Dingell, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, shared in an interview for the Washington Post, “I find it troubling, not only that the Department of Defense is in flagrant violation of final orders issued by the EPA, but that [the] DoD is now attempting to circumvent the law and Congress' intent by calling on the Department of Justice and the Office of Management and the Budget to intervene. The EPA is the expert agency charged by Congress with enforcing our environmental laws, and the Administration needs to allow them to do their job to protect the public health and safety”.