Ken Calvert: “Mr. Chairman, in my home State of California, environmental litigation may force the Fish and Wildlife Service to…”

“Mr. Chairman, in my home State of California, environmental litigation may force the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for endangered species on over 50 percent of the 125,000-acre Camp Pendleton in Southern California. Even though there are 17 miles of coastline in Camp Pendleton, environmental restrictions allow the Marines to use less than 1 mile of that coast, as designated on this drawing. One mile. That is it. That small space. And once they get ashore, Marines have to align everything and everyone up single file to weed through the land that has been designated critical habitat and cross Interstate 5 to another location on the base to begin their maneuvers. Mr. Chairman, our Marines should be training as they fight, not as if they are going out on some field trip. Our military is one of the best environmental stewards America has. They should not be forced to give up realistic training on their own property to satisfy a few environmental extremists. Proper training saves lives. We must not sacrifice the safety of our sons and daughters so that a gnatcatcher or a fairy shrimp can have an undisturbed life.”