President Signs Defense Reauthorization Bill with Climate, Species Provisions

President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2019 into law on August 1, 2018. The legislation, which passed Congress with bipartisan support, authorizes $716 billion for national defense through FY (YEAR). The new law also includes several environmental provisions. Under a climate and resilience provision, the NDAA requires military construction projects to disclose if it is within a 100-year floodplain and develop mitigation plans to prepare for impacts from climate change such as sea-level rise. “This bill reflects the fact that Congress has accepted the consensus that climate change affects national security,” said John Conger, Director of the non-partisan Center for Climate and Security. The bill also includes provisions on chemical clean up. It authorizes $60 million for remediation of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and up to $15 million for dioxin contamination in Vietnam. It also recommends continued funding for the study of PFOS and PFOA, a group of toxic chemicals that are used in Teflon and firefighting foam. A provision that extends the maximum duration of the Navy’s incidental take permits for marine mammals from five years to seven years was also included. An incidental take permit is issued when a project might result in harm to an endangered or threatened species. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, marine mammals will not be harme...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news