Armed Forces, civilian employees, and persons living in 
the vicinity of military operations and installations. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Military Environmental Responsibility Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purposes. 
Sec. 3. Compliance of federal defense agencies with public safety and environ-
mental laws. 
Sec. 4. Applicability of NEPA to weapon system development and procurement. 
Sec. 5. Repeal of prohibitions on use of defense funds for environmental compli-
ance and payment of penalties. 
Sec. 6. Savings provision. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To require the Department of Defense and 
all other defense-related agencies of the United 
States, as defined in the amendment made by sec-
tion 3(a), to comply with all Federal and State laws 
that are designed to protect the environment or the 
health and safety of the public to the same extent 
as all other entities subject to those laws. 
(2) To entirely waive any and all sovereign im-
munity and to entirely revoke any and all exemp-
tions of the Department of Defense and all other de-
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fense-related agencies of the United States within 
the United States and abroad that might in any way 
limit or exempt those agencies from complying with 
all Federal and State environmental laws designed 
to protect the health and safety of the public or the 
environment. 
(3) To leave no ambiguity for the executive or 
judicial branches that the Department of Defense 
and all other defense-related agencies are fully sub-
ject to all the requirements and possible enforcement 
of all Federal and State environmental laws designed 
to protect the health and safety of the public or the 
environment. 
SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE OF FEDERAL DEFENSE AGENCIES 
WITH PUBLIC SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL 
LAWS. 
(a) COMPLIANCE REQUIRED.—Chapter 160 of title 
10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 2711. APPLICABILITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS TO 
THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND DE-
FENSE-RELATED AGENCIES. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) FEDERAL DEFENSE AGENCY.—The term 
‘Federal defense agency’ means— 
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‘‘(A) the Department of Defense; 
‘‘(B) the Department of Energy; 
‘‘(C) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; 
‘‘(D) the Office of Naval Nuclear Reactors 
provided for by Executive Order 12344 (47 
Fed. Reg. 4979; 50 U.S.C. 2511 note; Feb-
ruary 3, 1982), relating to the Naval Nuclear 
Propulsion Program; 
‘‘(E) any other defense-related agency of 
the United States designated by the President 
for purposes of this section; and 
‘‘(F) installations, facilities, and operations 
of the Department of Defense and other de-
fense-related agencies covered by this para-
graph, whether located or conducted inside or 
outside of the United States. 
‘‘(2) DEFENSE AGENCY HEAD.—The term ‘de-
fense agency head’ means— 
‘‘(A) the Secretary of Defense, with respect 
to the Department of Defense and installations, 
facilities, and operations of the Department of 
Defense, whether located or conducted inside or 
outside of the United States; and 
‘‘(B) the head of a Federal defense agency 
covered by any of subparagraphs (B) through 
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(E) of paragraph (1), with respect to that agen-
cy and installations, facilities, and operations of 
that agency, whether located or conducted in-
side or outside of the United States. 
‘‘(3) ADMINISTERING FEDERAL AGENCY.—The 
term ‘administering Federal agency’ means the Fed-
eral agency responsible for the administration or en-
forcement, or both, of a Federal law covered by sub-
section (c). In most cases that agency is the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency. 
‘‘(4) STATES
AND
STATE
LAW.—The term 
‘State’ includes any unit of local government within 
a State, and the term ‘State law’ includes any local 
law and any interstate compact or agreement. 
‘‘(b) APPLICABILITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS.— 
The substantive and procedural requirements of each of 
the laws covered by subsection (c) shall apply to each Fed-
eral defense agency in the same manner and to the same 
extent as any person is subject to those requirements. To 
the extent not provided before the date of the enactment 
of the Military Environmental Responsibility Act in any 
other provision of law, the United States hereby expressly 
waives any immunity, and revokes any exemption, other-
wise applicable to a Federal defense agency with respect 
to any such substantive or procedural requirement. 
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‘‘(c) COVERED LAWS.—The laws covered by this sub-
section are all Federal laws, including treaties and regula-
tions, and all State laws, that are designed to protect the 
environment or designed to protect the health and safety 
of the public. At a minimum, those laws include the fol-
lowing Federal laws and their analogous State counter-
parts: 
‘‘(1) The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 
U.S.C. 2011 et seq.). 
‘‘(2) The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et 
seq.). 
‘‘(3) The Comprehensive Environmental Re-
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 
U.S.C. 9601 et seq.). 
‘‘(4) The Coastal Zone Management Act of 
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.). 
‘‘(5) The Department of Energy Organization 
Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.). 
‘‘(6) The Emergency Planning and Community 
Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11001 et 
seq.). 
‘‘(7) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 
‘‘(8) The Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.). 
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‘‘(9) The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.). 
‘‘(10) The National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 
‘‘(11) The Noise Control Act of 1972 (42 
U.S.C. 4901 et seq.). 
‘‘(12) The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 
(42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.). 
‘‘(13) The Occupational Safety and Health Act 
of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.). 
‘‘(14) The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 
2701 et seq.). 
‘‘(15) The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 
seq.). 
Notwithstanding the first sentence of this subsection, the 
Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.) and 
the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) 
are not covered by this subsection, such laws containing 
sovereign immunity waiver provisions that otherwise ap-
propriately provide for protection of the environment and 
the health and safety of the public. 
‘‘(d) COVERED SUBSTANTIVE AND PROCEDURAL RE-
QUIREMENTS.—(1) The substantive and procedural re-
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order or preliminary injunction is sought, require the filing 
of a bond or equivalent security in accordance with the 
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 
‘‘(7) Nothing in this subsection shall restrict any 
right that a person (or class of persons) may have under 
a Federal law covered by subsection (c) or common law 
to seek enforcement of that Federal law or to seek any 
other relief (including relief against the head of an admin-
istering Federal agency or a State agency). 
‘‘(h) JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION.—The courts of the 
United States and of the States shall construe the provi-
sions of this section and any other provision of law waiving 
the sovereign immunity of the United States under a law 
covered by subsection (c) liberally to effect the intent of 
Congress that the United States, acting through a covered 
defense agency, comply with, and be subject to enforce-
ment under, those laws to the same extent as private par-
ties.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 
at the end the following new item: 
‘‘2711. Applicability of environmental laws to the Department of Defense and 
defense-related agencies.’’. 
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SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY OF NEPA TO WEAPON SYSTEM DE-
VELOPMENT AND PROCUREMENT. 
Section 2431 of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(d) In the case of each weapon system for which 
the Secretary of Defense is required to submit documents 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that all 
development and procurement decisions regarding the 
weapon system are made in compliance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.).’’. 
SEC. 5. REPEAL OF PROHIBITIONS ON USE OF DEFENSE 
FUNDS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE 
AND PAYMENT OF PENALTIES. 
(a) RESTORED AVAILABILITY OF RESTORATION AC-
COUNT.—Section 2703 of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking subsection (f); and 
(2) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as 
subsections (f) and (g), respectively. 
(b) FORMERLY USED SITE REMEDIAL ACTION PRO-
GRAM.—Section 3131 of the National Defense Authoriza-
tion Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (10 U.S.C. 2701 note) is 
repealed. 
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(c) CONFORMING REPEAL.—Section 8149 of the De-
partment of Defense Appropriations Act, 2000 (Public 
Law 106–79; 113 Stat. 1271), is repealed. 
SEC. 6. SAVINGS PROVISION. 
Nothing in section 2711 of title 10, United States 
Code, as added by section 3 of this Act, or any other provi-
sion of this Act, may be construed as creating an inference 
that any provision of Federal law enacted before the date 
of the enactment of this Act that waived the sovereign im-
munity of the United States under a law of the United 
States or of any State was not fully effective and in force 
under its own terms before the date of the enactment of 
this Act. 
Æ 
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