July 20, 2020

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

RE: Support pro-environment amendments to NDAA

Dear Representative,

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national priorities. Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation. The Scorecard is the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health, and energy issues and is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters, and the media.

LCV urges you to support all pro-environment amendments being offered to H.R. 6395, the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The base language of this bill includes many great climate resiliency provisions as well as important provisions to remove the names of Confederate generals from military installations and we urge support for amendments that will make the bill stronger and protect our communities and environment while still enhancing our national security.

Amendment 4 (McAdams et al Nuclear testing amendment): This amendment would prohibit the use of NDAA FY21 funds for explosive nuclear testing and put in place restrictions on any resumption of nuclear test explosions in the future.

Amendment 7 (DeGette et al Protecting America’s Wilderness Act amendment): This amendment would add the text of H.R. 2546, the Protecting America’s Wilderness (PAW) Act which would protect 1.37 million acres of public lands and waters and enhance access to green spaces in California, Colorado, and Washington

Amendment 8 (Neguse, Grijalva CORE Act and Grand Canyon amendment): This amendment would add the text of H.R. 823, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act which would establish 400,000 acres of wilderness areas in Colorado, support the growing outdoor recreation economy in the state, and honor our veterans by designating Camp Hale as the first National Historical Landscape. The amendment would also withdraw one million acres of public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims to protect our cultural and natural heritage as well as the tribal communities and sacred sites, local economies, and safe water supplies in and near this iconic landscape.

Amendment 121 (Delgado et al PFAS amendment): This amendment would clarify a provision from the FY 2020 NDAA that requires manufacturers to disclose all PFAS discharges, no matter the PFAS percentage of the mixture, over 100 lbs to the EPA for inclusion in the Toxics Release Inventory.

Amendment 175 (Horsford et al Desert Refuge amendment): This amendment would strike language that would give the Air Force greater management authority over more than 800,000 acres protected as part of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (the largest contiguous refuge in the lower 48 states), preserves primary jurisdiction of the the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) over the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, and increases access to the Refuge for Tribal communities and USFW. The legislation will also establish an intergovernmental committee to improve range management while ensuring that service members at Nellis Air Force Base can train safely and effectively.

Amendment 176 (Houlahan, Fitzpatrick, Dean, Welch, Stevens PFAS amendment): This amendment would increase the authorization for the CDC study of the health implications of PFAS from $10 million to $15 million.

Amendment 225 (Levin, Tonko, Khanna, Kildee, Welch PFAS amendment): This amendment would place a moratorium on incineration of PFAS materials by the DOD until the Secretary of Defense finalizes guidance on the safe disposal of PFAS as required by the FY 2020 NDAA. Additionally, the amendment would require the Secretary to submit an annual report to EPA on the incineration of PFAS starting one year after the finalization of the guidance.

Amendment 226 (Levin, Dean, Posey, Fitzpatrick, Kildee PFAS amendment): This amendment would increase public awareness of PFAS contamination by requiring online disclosure of DOD testing for PFAS on military installations and former defense sites within seven days or within 30 days if placed in the Federal Register.

Amendment 227 (Levin, Dean, Kim, Posey, Kildee PFAS amendment): This amendment would ensure military service members will not be required to pay additional costs for blood testing related to PFAS exposure.

Amendment 293 (Perlmutter, Posey, Kildee, Fitzpatrick, Dean, Rouda PFAS amendment): This amendment would provide more insight into the risk of PFAS exposure to firefighters by requiring NIST and NIOSH to conduct a study on the use of PFAS chemicals in firefighting equipment, and then creates a grant program to fund additional research and improvements to firefighting equipment to reduce this exposure.

Again, we urge you to SUPPORT the pro-environment amendments listed above. We will strongly consider including votes on this legislation in the 2020 Scorecard. If you need more information, please call my office at (202) 785-8683 and ask to speak with a member of our government relations team.

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski
President