I’ve seen quick reversals before, but this one was stunning.
At 3:34pm (eastern), the AP ran an item explaining that the U.S. Army, hoping to trim its budget, will drop several key environmental protections.
According to a May 11 memo obtained by The Associated Press, Army Maj. Gen. Anders Aadland wrote that the Army will now “take additional risk in environmental programs; terminate environmental contracts and delay all non-statutory enforcement actions” until after the new fiscal year begins in October.
[…]
An environmental group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the Pentagon is irresponsibly ordering severe cuts in spending on programs that reduce pollution and protect wildlife.
It was a discouraging article. The report explained that the Army plan would be to scrap current protections for protecting endangered species, disposing of munitions in open-air burning, and monitoring groundwater.
And at 4:53pm (eastern), the AP ran a follow-up report, pointing to a startling u-turn.
The Army on Thursday scrapped plans to curtail some environmental protections and contracts after learning from Pentagon budget officials it could make do with cuts elsewhere.
[…]
“We will be able to continue all the environmental programs, the summer hires and particularly the force protection … that we previously thought we would have to defer,” Phil Sakowitz, deputy director for the Army’s new Installation Management Activity command headed by Aadland, told the AP in an interview.
“All those things we said in the (e-mail message) concerning environment are off the table. All of them,” Sakowitz said.
What an incredibly fast change of heart. You can tell it’s an election year.