Military get raises; environmental rules change for Pendleton

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer | Monday, November 24, 2003 9:54 PM PST ∞

CAMP PENDLETON ---- President Bush signed a $401 billion defense spending bill into law Monday that gives Marines and sailors a significant pay raise and blocks environmental agencies from roping off more training ground at Camp Pendleton to protect endangered species.

The 2004 National Defense Authorization Act also sets aside more than $25 million for a new tertiary sewage plant on the base that will replace four outdated plants built in the 1950s.

As a bill, the measure had passed easily through both houses of Congress in recent weeks only after a long, hard slog in conference committee.

The law funds the military for the fiscal year that began in October. It is in addition to the $87 billion supplemental bill for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that recently passed Congress and was signed by President George Bush.

Several provisions directly affect Camp Pendleton and other local installations, as well as local military communities and related industries.

Environmental restrictions eased

One of the most contentious measures in the act signed Monday was what lawmakers coined the "freedom to train" provision, which will keep environmental agencies from designating additional lands on military installations as critical habitat for endangered or threatened species.

It also opens the door for the Pentagon to negotiate with the Department of Interior to relax restrictions that military officials say hinder training.

Camp Pendleton was the poster child of the Pentagon's campaign to amend the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act in the military's favor.

Base officials and local conservative politicians have said environmental restrictions on the base threatened the lives of Marines by not permitting them to practice basic skills such as digging fighting positions, driving off-road and conducting unfettered beach landings.

Environmentalists have said they believed the bill was a Trojan horse intended to break down the system of laws that have protected the environment from military and industrial pollution for decades.

The argument about training was just a smokescreen, they said, and recent military successes in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated that the Marines and soldiers are adequately trained without exemptions.

Pendleton mum on changes

While they were extremely vocal on why Marines needed immediate relief from environmental restrictions to prepare for war, Camp Pendleton officials offered few hints about how training would change now that the law has passed.

"We're not going to do anything different," said Camp Pendleton spokesman Maj. Jeff Nyhart. "We don't view it as any type of sweeping exemption to environmental laws. What it's going to allow us to do is to take national security into consideration. Our (species) management plan is going to continue."

Nyhart said any changes to training or species protection will come after a review of the law and of training needs as the Marines gear up for another large deployment to Iraq.

"We'll assess where there is an opportunity to explore the options with the regulatory agencies that impose those restrictions," Nyhart said. "But at this point we're going to operate the way we have."

More pay for troops

Some of the provisions of the defense authorization that could most affect San Diego County include pay raises and better benefits for military families and veterans.

The new law boosts troop pay an average of 4.15 percent and as much as 6.25 percent. It extends through Dec. 31, 2004 ---- but does not change ---- the $225 monthly imminent-danger or hostile-fire premium paid to troops who are deployed to designated hot spots. At least 40,000 mostly local troops will be eligible for the bonus over the next year when Marines from Camp Pendleton's expeditionary force redeploy to Iraq in the spring and fall of 2004.

In addition to bigger paychecks, troops living off base will have to pay a smaller share of their housing expenses.

The law hikes the monthly basic allowance for housing, reducing by half the percentage military families have had to pay out-of-pocket for off-base housing. It is a significant bonus to Marines assigned to Camp Pendleton, where a chronic housing shortage leaves many families paying rent and mortgages in expensive nearby neighborhoods.

Veterans and families of reservists got long-awaited breaks, too.

Disabled vets get full allowance

Veterans who were disabled in combat and who are retired from the military after 20 years of service can now collect both their full retirement pay and disability ---- a system called "concurrent receipt" that has long topped the agenda of veterans groups.

Families of reservists can also now tap into the military medical system at levels more on par with active-duty families.

Changes also apply to the civilian employees of the Department of Defense on Camp Pendleton and other military installations.

The Defense Department can now streamline its hiring, firing and placement process, limiting some of the protections for workers and cumbersome procedures that have long come with federal service.

The new rules apply to 700,000 civilian employees systemwide and to at least 4,000 of Camp Pendleton's nearly 8,000 civilian workers.

While the 2004 defense act provides half the cost of the nearly $50 million sewage plant planned for Camp Pendleton, construction on that project is still far from getting off the ground.

Base officials say it will be at least June 2004 before the design of the plant is done, and September 2004 before construction begins. The remainder of the cost will be funded in the 2005 defense funding bill to keep construction going, officials said.

Billions for new weapons

The new military-spending law also provides money for weapons systems that could soon ply local waters and skies.

It funnels $872 million to build nine more V-22 Osprey for the Marine Corps and two more for the Air Force.

The Osprey ---- an experimental tilt-wing aircraft that has claimed dozens of lives in test flights ---- will probably be stationed at Camp Pendleton and Miramar, eventually replacing CH-46 helicopters that have been used since Vietnam.

After a long battle in Congress, the law allows the Air Force to lease 20 Boeing 767 jet tankers and buy 80 more to replace the KC-135 and KC-10 aircraft.

It also provides billions for other weapons programs, including:

$9 billion for research for a ballistic missile defense system.

$15 million for Pentagon to research the development of a low-yield nuclear weapon that could be used to destroy underground bunkers. The defense act also lifted a previous ban on such research.

$360 million for unmanned aerial vehicles.

$2.9 billion for Navy and Marine Corps FA-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft.

$4.4 billion for multi-service Joint Strike Fighter.

$1.2 billion for next-generation aircraft carrier and $1 billion for an experimental warship, a pilot program for the future version of the Navy cruiser.

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.