SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego Congresswoman Susan Davis wants the Navy to analyze whether there is a national security threat related to sewage spills along the US-Mexico border.
The military is set to build a $1 billion Navy SEAL training facility near Imperial Beach. The area has experienced 160 days of sewage spill closures to parts of its shoreline over the past three years, Davis reports.
Davis wants a Navy assessment of how construction and future training at the site could be affected by the spills.
“We need a whole of government solution to the sewage spills,” said Davis. “We know the environmental and economic impact these spills have. What we don’t know, with the Navy planning to stage training operations in potentially contaminated waters, are the national security concerns. The Navy should take a look at this and coordinate with relevant agencies to assess what can be done to prevent future spills.”
Davis, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, wants to include language in this year’s defense bill to get a report from the Navy on the matter.
“The Navy’s coastal campus will be vital for national security,” Davis said. “The last thing we want is our elite Navy SEALs training in water contaminated with sewage. Nor do we want training operations delayed.”
Davis is requesting the Navy work with the Department of State, the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security, the International Boundary Water Commission, and the Department of the Interior to assess how national security will be affected by future spills and how they can be prevented.
