This bill would let the Department of Defense (DoD), its components, contractors, and designees be exempt from four federal environmental laws—the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act—when the President or the Secretary of Defense certifies an activity is directly related to countering the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. The exemption would apply to activities for readiness, training, or operations; construction, maintenance, expansion, or repair of DoD facilities or infrastructure; deployment, development, testing, or production of DoD technologies, systems, or equipment; and certain commercial technology work tied to DoD agreements that directly supports a critical national security interest. The bill bars courts from reviewing or blocking those certifications or covered activities, allows the Secretary to set environmental mitigations if desired, requires a review of environmental best practices at least every 5 years, and applies retroactively to ongoing activities and pending legal actions.
No publicly available information.
The bill states the Department of Defense must operate with maximum agility and efficiency to be prepared to deter or fight the Chinese Communist Party. It says the named environmental statutes frequently and unnecessarily delay military readiness and operations without substantial environmental benefit, and that national defense should take precedence over administrative processes that might slow defense activities.
No publicly available information.