Standing in the shadow of the fence erected at the U.S./Mexico border in San Diego’s Border Fields State Park, Clean Bay Campaign Director Laura Hunter, right, explains the potential environmental damages of a U.S. Border Patrol plan to erect a triple fence between the two countries. For more information on EHC’s opposition to the expanded border fence, contact CBC Organizer Nohelia Ramos at (619) 235-0281.

On June 21, Environmental Health Coalition joined the Military Toxics Project in the release of a new report, Communities in the Line of Fire: The Environmental, Cultural, and Human Health Impacts of Military Munitions and Firing Ranges.

The Communities report demonstrates that military munitions and firing ranges – for which the Department of Defense is currently seeking blanket exemptions from environmental and public health laws – release dangerous toxic substances into communities across the country.

Unexploded ordnance (UXO) from military munitions and firing ranges plague San Diego both in land and sea:

• In 1983 two young boys were killed when abandoned UXO they found in the residential neighborhood of Tierrasanta exploded.
• Warning signs about UXO are posted in public use areas like Mission Trails Park because clearance of UXO cannot be assured.
• Some of the most scenic and historic lands in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, the Navy’s Carrizo Impact Area, have forever been removed from public use due to UXO contamination.
• UXO in sediments dredged from San Diego Bay stopped a major beach replenishment project when two 80 mm shells were dumped on local beaches.

Despite the national problems from UXO, the military is pressing for more exemptions from federal environmental laws. What can you do?

• Oppose the rollback of environmental laws. Contact your U.S. Senators and tell them you strongly oppose any military exemptions from environmental laws.
• Support the Military Environmental Responsibility Act (MERA). This legislation, introduced by Rep. Bob Filner, would bring the military up to the same standard of regulation for environmental and public health and safety laws as the private sector.

For more information about the status of the rollbacks and to request a copy of the Communities report, visit www.miltoxproj.org

To show your support of MERA, visit www.house.gov/filner/mera.htm