Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1975

XI.

Special Functions

Civil Works

The civil works responsibilities of the Army are administered through the Corps of Engineers. As the only organized engineering force during the early days of the republic, the corps surveyed and explored new areas for the rapidly expanding nation and showed an environmental interest in the Yellowstone and Yosemite areas long before the establishment of the National Park System. In 1824 the corps took on the job of improving the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for navigation through removal of snags and other obstacles. This was the beginning of what has become a nationwide water resources development program.

The fiscal year 1975 civil works appropriations, including supplemental monies and transfers, totaled $1,756,877,000. The general construction category accounted for fifty-five percent of this total, providing money for 258 projects, including 29 construction starts, and 119 planning projects, including 29 planning starts. Operation and maintenance, the second largest category, accounted for twenty-eight percent of total funding. The complete breakdown in thousands of dollars is shown in the table below.

CIVIL WORKS FISCAL YEAR 1975 APPROPRIATIONS (INCLUDES SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS, AND TRANSFERS)
(THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS)

General investigations

65,284

Construction, general

966,338

Operation & Maintenance, general

494,577

Mississippi River & tributaries

120,051

Flood control & coastal emergencies

65,400

Permanent appropriations

4,427

Special recreation use fees

700

General expenses

40,100

Total

1,756,877

The Corps of Engineers exercises responsibility for developing and maintaining the nation's navigable waterways, some 22,000 miles of inland waterways, 3,000 miles of intracoastal channels, 226 lock and dam complexes, 107 commercial harbors, and 416 recreational boat harbors. Foreign and domestic waterborne commerce in 1975 totaled 639.5 billion ton-miles,

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the lowest level since 1969. Domestic commerce accounted for about one-fourth of the nation's total intercity freight traffic. Cargo moved on the water was carried at an average cost of three mills per ton-mile and used less energy per ton-mile than any other form of transportation. Energy-producing commodities, predominantly petroleum and coal, accounted for about sixty percent of the domestic and forty-five percent of the inland water freight carried.

In March 1975 the District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the responsibility and authority of the Corps of Engineers to regulate the disposal of dredged or fill material under Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 extended to "the waters of the United States." Previously, the corps had confined its permit activities to "navigable waters of the United States," defined as waters which were, had been, or could be navigable. The full impact of the court's ruling was unknown at year's end, but it seemed likely that the corps' jurisdiction over rivers, adjacent wetlands, and areas supporting aquatic vegetation may exceed 350,000 square miles as compared to the present 50,000 miles. The corps may also be held responsible for almost 2 million miles of lake shoreline, where previously it exercised jurisdiction over less than 50 thousand miles. Jurisdiction may be expanded from the ordinary high water mark along inland waters to include periodically inundated areas supporting aquatic vegetation, while jurisdiction along coastal areas may be expanded to the aquatic vegetation line.

Lack of funds in recent years has hindered the efficient operation of the corps' navigation program, which has grown from 192 Army-operated lock and dam installations in fiscal year 1971 to 226 such installations in fiscal year 1975. The maintenance backlog has also increased.

Under the Inland Navigation Systems Analysis program, described in last year's report, a set of models has been completed that can analyze inland navigation as part of a larger system of transportation and can provide planners with the recommended size, location, schedule of implementation, and benefit-cost analysis of each waterway improvement and a benefit-cost analysis for the system as a whole. The program will also standardize data collection at locks and dams and analyze the information collected on a system-wide basis. Current planning includes a model to generate waterborne commerce flows for simulation modeling and economic evaluation, a data file and analysis program of the physical charac-

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teristics of waterways, a data file on the characteristics of the towing industry, and a model that will describe major transportation modes. Program components should be in use by mid­1976.

The Corps of Engineers requires much data on water quantity and quality for planning, designing, and operating water resource projects, as well as for other projects and studies. As the fiscal year ended, the Office of Water Data Coordination was completing plans for a National Water Data Exchange system that will help the corps meet its data requirement. The corps will make full use of the new system and will also contribute data from its own extensive network of data collecting points. These points include approximately 5,000 stream-gauging stations funded by the corps but operated both by the U.S. Geological Survey and the engineers.

Attendance at the 413 lakes managed by the corps reached a high of 352 million recreation days during calendar year 1974. Fuel shortages and increased fuel prices may have modified use patterns, because visits to nearby lakes increased while the number of trips to more distant ones were reduced, but the period of stay increased.

Under authority contained in Section 54 of Public Law 93-251, the Chief of Engineers appointed a 15-member Shoreline Erosion Advisory Panel to advise him on the Shoreline Erosion Control Demonstration Program. This program will develop and demonstrate low-cost erosion control devices for use on sheltered or inland water at sixteen representative sites on the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Great Lakes coasts, and in Alaska.

The Corps of Engineers' 63 hydroelectric power plants were capable of producing 15 million kilowatts from 283 generating units, making the Army the nation's largest single producer of electricity. During fiscal year 1975, the corps placed in service 3 new power plants and 7 generating units with a total capacity of 495,375 kilowatts. Nine more power-producing projects were under construction. When completed these projects will bring the corps' electricity-producing capacity to 16,751,275 kilowatts using 306 generating units. Additional generators at 9 existing plants could provide 4 million more kilowatts. Thirty-five potential locations have been studied or are being studied that could produce an estimated 22 million kilowatts.

During fiscal year 1975, the corps arranged twenty training programs in water and related land resources development activities for engineers and researchers from foreign nations.

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Participants came from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Taiwan. Typical of the subjects studied were mathematical and physical model experiments in hydraulics; coastal zone management and developments in coastal engineering; dredging operations and procedures; planning, design, and construction of hydroelectric power plants; reservoir operations; and river regulation and reporting systems.

Army Energy Program

Throughout fiscal year 1975 the Army stressed the intensive management of energy resources it had initiated in fiscal year 1974. As a result, the Army reduced total energy consumption during the year by twenty-three percent. Approximately eighty-five percent of the energy consumed was for operating installations, while the remaining fifteen percent was for transportation. The major reductions were in purchased electricity and petroleum products, especially heating fuels, and reflected not only the mildness of the 1974-75 winter in Korea, Europe, and most of the United States, but better management as well. Using fiscal year 1973 as a base, energy conservation in the current fiscal year represented a saving of $171 million. The Army consumption and conservation accomplishment is reflected in the following chart:

ARMY ENERGY CONSUMPTION
(TRILLION BTU's)

Installation Operations

Fiscal Year 1973

Fiscal Year 1975

Percent Saved

Purchased electricity

121.5

84.5

30.5

Natural Gas

47.8

44.4

7.1

Liquefied Petroleum Gas

4.7

2.9

38.3

Goal

39.7

34.2

13.9

Purchased Steam

0.6

0.6

-

Petroleum Heating Fuels

78.5

58.9

25.0

Sub Total

292.8

225.5

23.0

Mobility Operations

AVFUEL

20.9

12.3

41.1

MOGAS

20.3

16.2

20.2

DIESEL

20.6

16.9

18.0

Subtotal

61.8

45.4

26.5

Army Total

354.6

270.9

23.6

A number of actions were taken during the year to standardize bulk petroleum fuels in the Department of Defense. Diesel fuel and motor gasoline grades were standardized by all U.S. ground forces in Europe, and the Army began to standardize its aviation gasoline requirements. By reducing the

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number of grades of fuel that need to be procured, stored, and distributed, the Army will improve petroleum logistics and conserve energy.

In a related development, the Army completed an unleaded motor gasoline test program at four installations in the United States. The tests indicated that use of unleaded motor gasoline did not hamper performance of, or require more maintenance on, combat and administrative types of vehicles. Information will continue to be collected to substantiate test results, but meanwhile Army installations have begun to convert their storage and dispensing facilities to handle unleaded gasoline. Seven installations (Forts Carson, Colorado; Eustis, Virginia; Riley, Kansas; Lewis, Washington; Stewart, Georgia; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; and Letterkenny Army Depot, Pennsylvania) have completed conversion to unleaded fuel. Over thirty-five other installations have begun the conversion program which will continue into fiscal year 1976.

The Corps of Engineers has initiated a program to use solar energy for heating and cooling buildings, thus reducing energy costs and the consumption of fossil fuels. Working with the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Federal Energy Agency, the engineers are designing for construction next year a solar heated and cooled battalion headquarters and classroom building to be located at Fort Hood, Texas. Additionally, solar heating systems are planned for family housing units and barracks at five other Army installations. These installations are part of the program for testing system concepts developed by the Energy Research and Development Administration under the National Solar Energy R&D program. Other solar heating and cooling applications are being developed for three U.S. Army Reserve training centers, an academic building, and a large industrial building. The corps also has undertaken an economic and environmental assessment of the use of nuclear energy systems to supply large Defense installations and has studied the feasibility of using waste fission products from the nuclear power industry to heat buildings.

In other energy conservation matters, development of the Defense Energy Information System was completed, and work on a six-year Energy Conservation Investment Program moved forward. Also, the Army has canceled 2 limousines, 33 medium-prestige sedans and 12,319 light (intermediate and regular) sedans from fleet authorizations: The limousines and medium sedans were eliminated from the inventory, and the

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12,319 light sedans were being reduced by attrition. The 1,884 sedans procured for replacement in fiscal year 1975 were subcompacts and compacts, as will be the 1,276 to be procured in fiscal year 1976.

Environmental Protection and Preservation

Until the position was abolished in February 1975, the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army served as the principal Department of the Army official responsible for environmental policies and programs. The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works has now taken this responsibility. Within the Army staff, the Chief of Engineers retained primary staff responsibility for directing and coordinating environmental matters.

The Army continued the efforts noted in last year's report to control or eliminate pollutants at Army installations. Despite these efforts, little progress was made in reducing the number of installations violating air pollution control standards. Because of complexities in the design, procurement, and installation of pollution abatement equipment, twenty-four installations were not in full compliance with the standards.

More substantial progress was achieved in eliminating domestic and industrial waste pollutants, although control of pollutants produced in the manufacture of explosives and munitions was difficult because of inadequate technology. By the end of the fiscal year the number of Army installations that had water pollution control problems was 83 compared to 120 last year.

The Army continued to attack solid waste pollution through programs to avoid waste generation and increase recycling. Emphasis was placed on reducing the amount and complexity of packaging to aid in recycling, the reuse of waste crankcase oil as a fuel, and environmentally satisfactory disposal of residual waste. In other actions aimed at reducing or preventing pollution at installations, the Army updated contingency plans for handling oil spills, issued revised instructions for preventing spills, and continued work on a method to predict noise levels from blasting and helicopter operations.

The Army encountered no major difficulties in complying with air emission standards for equipment during the year. As the year ended, however, it became apparent that waivers of 1975-78 exhaust emission standards would be required before

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the Army could purchase any additional 1/4-ton trucks. Accordingly, the Army's procuring agency has recommended that the Army request relief from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Army continued to investigate cost-effective ways to prevent the discharge of oily bilge wastes and domestic sewage from Army vessels. During the year a prototype oil and water separation unit was installed on an Army landing craft, utility (LCU), and prototype development contracts were awarded for the installation of diverse sanitary waste treatment facilities on three other LCU's.

Because the Army is the trustee for many historic sites and structures, protection and enhancement of the nation's cultural heritage have become significant elements of the Army Environmental Program. By the end of 1974, forty-two Army­controlled sites were listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These sites included the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Fortress at Fort Monroe, and the Great Gun Factory at Watervliet Arsenal. Nine other nominations for inclusion on the register were submitted during 1975. Procedures to identify, maintain, and preserve historic sites will be covered in a two-volume historic preservation technical manual that was under preparation at the close of the fiscal year.

As a result of the stress on environmental education, all major commands and many installations sent personnel to Army-sponsored courses, such as the environmental executive course and the environmental management course, and to courses sponsored by universities or similar institutions. Additionally, the Army provided on-the-job training and presented environmentally oriented subject matter in the curricula of most of its schools.

The Army emphasized the importance of using the most modern land use planning techniques, incorporating the design of new facilities into the natural setting, and eliminating conditions that could detract from the appearance of installations and facilities. Many Army units joined with other federal and state agencies and local civic groups in pollution control programs and a variety of environmental enhancement projects. During the year far more attention was given to environmental amenities in the master planning of installations and in the design and location of individual facilities. In recognition of its efforts in this regard, Fort Sill received the first Secretary of Defense Environmental Quality Award on 11 July 1974.

The Army's interest in removing evidences of man's past abuse of nature was reflected in cooperation with the national

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scouting movement in its Keep America Beautiful program and the Johnny Horizon program. All components of the Army have joined with local groups in cleaning up rivers and streams, assisting recycling projects, collecting abandoned automobile hulks, and similar activities.

Responding to congressional interest, the Secretary of the Army approved a program to decontaminate and restore to public use Army-held land that had been used for chemical, biological, and nuclear purposes. Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado, and Weldon Spring Chemical Plant, Missouri, were designated as priority projects under the new program. Several other installations are under consideration for inclusion. Plans were made to set health standards, devise technology, start detailed surveys, and establish funding programs. Work is scheduled to begin in fiscal year 1976.

A different type of environmental concern continued to be a problem. During the past few years millions of starlings, grackles, and blackbirds established winter roosts at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Milan Army Ammunition Plant, Tennessee. The installations were subjected to increasing pressure to reduce the bird population, which posed threats to health and agricultural production. Accordingly, the Army published an environmental impact statement proposing to use an authorized bird control agent (PA-14) to spray the roosts. Opposition to the proposal was immediate, and on 3 February 1975 the Society for Animal Rights filed suit to stop the Army from spraying. On 13 February 1975 the U.S. Court of Appeals denied the injunction. Fort Campbell sprayed selected portions of large roosts in late February, and an estimated half-million birds were destroyed. Weather conditions at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant were not suitable for spraying. Public opposition to the program was again very evident, and a supplement to the environmental impact statement was prepared to substantiate further the method of control. Meanwhile, litigation against the Department of Defense in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Society for Animal Rights, Inc. et al. v. Schlesinger et al.), could result in delaying or prohibiting further Army action.

Emergency Operations

No domestic situations during the past year required the use of Army troops. Emergency operations were confined to answering calls for disaster assistance and were handled exclu-

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sively by Army engineers. In this regard, Corps of Engineer Districts provided disaster assistance twenty-eight times during the year. The cost amounted to $2.3 million.

The Corps of Engineers continued its rehabilitation work in the Lower Mississippi River basin. This is a major effort to restore levees and other protective works damaged by high water in the spring of 1974 and has required the allocation of more than $19 million in emergency funds. During March 1975, emergency flood control work was again necessary because of flooding in the Mississippi River basin, and more than $22 million from the emergency fund was allocated for the task.

Civil Litigation

This year witnessed the first serious challenges by women to Army regulations and policies that provide different enlistment criteria for men and women. Grace Chandler, a seventeen-year-old female who dropped out of high school in the 11th grade, brought a class action suit in a U.S. District Court in California for injunctive and declaratory relief from Army enlistment policies which prescribe that only women who have attained age eighteen and are high school graduates are eligible to enlist. She alleged that this constituted unlawful sex discrimination, since males may enlist at age seventeen and need not be high school graduates. Chandler was followed by Barbara Parise and Helen Cartwright, who brought a class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on 31 December 1974 attacking sex-differentiated enlistment criteria, test scores, and educational levels. Shirley Mae West then brought suit in Florida attacking the prohibition against enlisting unmarried persons with dependents under eighteen. The Army received a favorable decision from the District Court in the Chandler case and the plaintiff appealed. Before her appeal was heard, however, she joined the Marine Corps and a motion was made to dismiss the appeal for mootness.

Fiscal Year 1975 also saw the beginning of a potential series of cases arising out of Army participation in drug and biomedical research experiments. On 9 October 1974 nine prisoners in the Maryland House of Corrections brought a class action suit in the U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, against eighteen Maryland state officials and the Secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare and Defense (Bailey v. Mandel). Plaintiffs claimed that even though they were ostensibly volunteers,

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their services weren't truly voluntary because they were in severe financial straits and received extra pay for being in the program. Furthermore, they had not been fully advised of the physical consequences of their participation. The plaintiffs sought to halt the program and to obtain money damages for violations of their constitutional rights. The Secretary of Defense was named as a defendant because of contracts let by the Army Medical Research and Development Command involving human medical research.

There were several important developments in the area of tort litigation during the past year. A major item of legislation, HR 3954, commonly referred to as the Gonzales Bill, was introduced. The purpose of this bill was to amend the Federal Tort Claims Act to make the United States the exclusive source of relief for cases involving active duty and reserve component physicians accused of medical malpractice within the scope of their official duties. The amendment, if approved, will afford the same full immunity from personal liability now provided Veterans' Administration and Public Health Service physicians.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in Henderson v. Bluemink, ruled that Army physicians performing their medical duties were not entitled to claim official immunity for alleged acts of malpractice. The decision was not appealed in order to avoid a possibly unfavorable, binding precedent from higher courts. Prior to completion of a rehearing in this case, the plaintiff died and the lawsuit was withdrawn. Several jurisdictions still recognize the doctrine of official immunity, and there have been no cases in which a military physician has been held personally liable.

The number and amounts of judgments awarded service­men injured by defective ordnance became a cause of concern. Although these judgments were not against the United States, the contractors involved were entitled to reimbursement for both the judgment and attorney's fees under the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract under which government-owned, contractor­operated plants manufacture munitions. Servicemen win such cases without showing negligence on the part of the contractor under "the strict theory of tort liability." This strict liability is applied to anyone who manufactures or puts into "the stream of commerce" a dangerous instrumentality. In one such case (Challoner et al. v. Day & Zimmerman), the Army's contractor was seeking Supreme Court review of an adverse decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Some Federal courts continued to hold that soldiers who

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used their personally owned vehicle in "furtherance of their master's business," both with and without apparent authority to do so, were acting within the scope of their employment. For example, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled in the case of Dodson v. Childs that a reservist who drove his car to a Boy Scout camp, with the permission of a noncommissioned officer (who lacked authority to approve such action), was within the scope of his authority. The decision resulted in a judgment of $46,500 against the United States under the Government Drivers Act.

In Schlesinger v. Councilman, the Supreme Court reversed a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The Circuit Court had enjoined the court-martial of an Army

captain who was charged with the off-post sale, transfer, and possession of marihuana. The Circuit court held the offenses were not "service-connected" under O'Callahan v. Parker. In reversing that decision, the Supreme Court held that the lower court's actions were an impermissible interference with the military judicial process and that whether the offenses were "service-connected" was a question for the military courts to decide. The Supreme Court further held that in the absence of extraordinary circumstances the federal courts must "refrain from intervention, by way of injunction or otherwise" in the court-martial process, and that Article 76, Uniform Code of Military justice, did not limit collateral attacks on courts-martial solely to habeas corpus petitions.

Substantial reductions in the strength of the officer corps, reflected in part by stringent promotion policies, resulted in a class lawsuit brought by five Army captains. Plaintiffs in Maxfield et al. v. Callaway, all of whom had been passed over for promotion to major, challenged the authority of the Secretary of the Army to reject the recommendations of a promotion selection board and to convene a second promotion selection board, thereby enlarging the secondary zone of consideration. The case was still pending at the close of the reporting period.

In Schick v. Reed, the U.S. Supreme Court held that President Eisenhower's commutation of a service member's death sentence to life imprisonment without parole was within the pardoning powers under Article 11, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The court further held that its decision in Furman v. Georgia, which held death penalties unconstitutional, did not affect the commutation granted twelve years before.

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The court specifically declined to rule on whether the Furman decision applied to death sentences imposed by courts-martial.

The Supreme Court will soon decide on the authority of installation commanders to control political activities on post. On April 14, 1975, the Supreme Court granted the Army's petition for certiorari in Greer v. Spock and agreed to review the propriety of the injunction against the commander of Fort Dix, which permitted Dr. Benjamin Spock to campaign on the post for President of the United States in the 1972 election. A lesser known issue in Greer v. Spock concerned the right of installation commanders to require civilians to obtain prior approval before distributing literature and pamphlets on military posts.

During the year the Army became involved in a new intelligence case, Teague v. Alexander, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of political activists over the right of the Army to provide the Internal Revenue Service with intelligence data. An old ACLU case, Socialists Workers Party et al. v. Attorney General of the United States et al., still had not been resolved. This case involved alleged mistreatment of members of the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance by the federal government.

Litigation arising from Army procurement activities continued unabated. The largest single type of case rose under the Renegotiation Act (50 U.S.C. App. 1191, 1211-1232): Either the Army requested the Department of Justice to collect a renegotiation debt or, more often, contractors brought suit in the Court of Claims challenging the Renegotiation Board's determination that the contractor made excessive profits.

In the area of contractor fraud, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ruled against the government and granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment in United States v. Hangar One, Inc. In this case the United States sued Hangar One for $800,000 under the False Claims Act, alleging that the contractor had knowingly submitted a false payment claim for artillery shells when it knew that approximately 19,000 of the shells had critical defects. The contractor's main defense was that government inspectors erroneously misclassified minor defects as critical. The contractor also maintained that even if the defects were held to be critical under the terms of the inspection clauses of the contract, its conduct in submitting payment vouchers after delivery of the shells was without intent to defraud, since it was unaware that they contained critical defects. The court adopted all of Hangar One's points of contention, including the contractor's interpre-

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tation of the various contract inspection clauses on critical, major, and minor defects.

Regarding environmental law, two cases decided during the past year obscure the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal's decision in Kentucky ex rel. Hancock v. Ruckelshaus. In the Kentucky case, the court upheld the Army's position that federal facilities must comply with state environmental standards but not with their procedural requirements, such as obtaining licenses and permits. In Alabama v. Seeber, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that federal facilities did have to comply with state and local licensing requirements. The Ninth Circuit Court, EPA v. California, also ruled that federal facilities must comply with such procedural requirements. The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Kentucky v. Ruckelshaus.

In Society for Animal Rights, Inc. et al. v. Schlesinger et al., the plaintiffs sought, as noted earlier, to enjoin the Army from proceeding with its plans to control blackbirds at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and at Milan, Tennessee. The plan called for killing large numbers of the birds by spraying their roosts at night with Tergitol under certain climatic conditions of rain and temperature, allowing the insulating feather oil to be washed away, and causing the birds to freeze to death. The complaint was for a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and mandamus. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the request for a preliminary injunction, and the Circuit Court of Appeals denied the motion on appeal. The Army's main interest in the case was to defend the adequacy of its environmental impact statement. The plaintiffs claim that the Army's statement did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.

One injunction action to prevent the transfer of operations of an Army Materiel Command facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, was dismissed (Local 1498 AFGE v. U.S. Army, Eastern District of Pennsylvania). Two suits were filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to prevent the closing of Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia. One of these, National Association of Government Employees v. Schlesinger, included the congressional delegation from. the Philadelphia area as plaintiffs. The other suit was the City of Philadelphia v. Schlesinger. In Alabama, the American Federation of Government Employees, in AFGE v. Hoffmann, obtained an injunction against the reduction in force of civilians employed at Redstone Arsenal as a result of the planned reorganization of the Ballistic Missile Defense System Command. The plaintiffs alleged, and

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the judge agreed, that three contracts for services dating to 1971 violated Army regulations. The plaintiffs alleged that the jobs performed by contractor personnel decreased the number of spaces for which the released employees could compete. Finally, the realignment of functions from the Lexington-Bluegrass Army Depot was challenged on the grounds that the Army had not prepared an environmental impact statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (Breckenridge et al. v. Schlesinger, Eastern District of Kentucky).

Many suits were filed by local civilian employees in Italy. In the most significant of these, Cali v. United States, the plaintiff pressed claims for cost of living allowances. The lower court's decision in Cali was adverse to the United States but was reversed by the Court of Appeals in Florence, Italy. The plaintiff's appeal was before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation at the end of the fiscal year. Millions of dollars in pay benefits depended on the outcome of this case.

Promotion of Rifle Practice

The National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice (NBPRP) was established by congressional action in 1903 and conducts its mission under authority of Title 10, U.S.C., paragraphs 4307-4313. Marksmanship training programs, as well as certain competitive marksmanship programs, are carried out by the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship. Appropriated funds for the programs amounted to $183,000 in fiscal year 1975.

With equipment and materials provided by the Secretary of the Army, the Director of Civilian Marksmanship furnished caliber .22 ammunition and appropriate targets and loaned caliber .22 rifles to 2,400 civilian rifle clubs having approximately 140,000 members, of whom approximately 80,000 are in the age group twelve through nineteen. Over 9,000 qualification medals were awarded to junior members. Additionally, some 5,000 undergraduate members of 92 college clubs participated in this rifle marksmanship program during fiscal year 1975.

The Director of Civilian Marksmanship furnished twelve sets of medals to the top ten percent of the teams firing in the National ROTC Interscholastic-Intercollegiate Smallbore Rifle Match, in which 118 teams of ten members each participated, representing high schools and colleges throughout the United States.

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As in each year since 1968, the NBPRP authorized the National Rifle Association (NRA) to include four National Trophy Matches in the program of the 1974 NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championship matches fired at Camp Perry, Ohio, during August 1974. Sixty-eight teams, including thirty­one civilian teams and 1,153 individuals, participated in the National Trophy Service Rifle and Service Pistol events.

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