Military bases magnify environmental harm beyond what any civilian concentration causes

Evidence

By definition, most bases store large quantities of weapons, explosives, and other inherently dangerous tools of war; nearly all of them contain toxic chemicals and other hazardous waste. Pollution, contamination, and other forms of environmental harm are found at nearly every base. Any town, city, or other large concentration of people causes some degree of environmental harm, but bases magnify those effects, both inadvertently—through toxic leaks, accidental ordnance detonation, and other dangerous accidents—and through the intentional discharge of weapons and other environment damage caused during training. Bases storing nuclear weapons are especially dangerous. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 388