Ducks vs. Politics

[JABIII]

Environmentalists say site of landing field politically motivated


By WILLIAM L. HOLMES
Associated Press Writer


RALEIGH, N.C. - Environmentalists trying to block construction of a military landing field in eastern North Carolina accused the Navy on Monday of picking the site for political reasons and adapting environmental studies to justify their choice.

The filing in U.S. District Court in Raleigh asks a judge to permanently halt work on the outlying landing field (OLF) until the Navy conducts a proper environmental study in Washington and Beaufort counties. A hearing in the case is scheduled for January.

A lawyer representing the counties, Derb Carter of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said Monday he and other lawyers have reviewed more than 200,000 documents provided by the Navy to support its proposal to build the OLF near a wildlife refuge that is the winter home to thousands of migratory birds.

Fighter jets would use the field to practice aircraft carrier landings.

"What became apparent is that this decision to build the outlying landing field was a political decision made early on in the process and was motivated by the interest of the Navy," Carter said Monday.

A Navy spokesman had no immediate comment on the filing Monday night.

According to the filing, Navy officials decided on a site outside of southeastern Virginia because they were worried about increased jet noise there, where there already is a heavy naval presence.

In compensation for picking a site in eastern North Carolina, they offered to site two jet squadrons it the neighboring state.

However, the filing charges that the Navy's own analysis showed existing landing fields in Virginia were adequate for its needs. The documents also claim that a naval operational expert assigned to oversee an environmental impact study on the site felt pressured to fabricate support for it.

"(He) confessed the Navy's ... team was having to 'reverse engineer the whole process' to justify the Navy's preferred OLF site," the filing said.

The 30,000-acre OLF project would have an 8,000-foot runway that would be used by new F/A-18 Super Hornet jets.

The Navy likes the site because it is located between Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, where the squadrons would be based.

The proposed site is about five miles from the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, home to more than 100,000 wintering waterfowl. Environmental experts have said the waterfowl would endanger pilots and expensive fighter jets for about six months of the year.

[Sasha and Abby]

Your tax dollars hard at work. JAB, I thought this was defeated????? I guess not. [img]graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[JABIII]

I am afraid it is hard to defeat the US Navy when they want something. On a brighter note, maybe the displaced ducks will all fly to SC!

[Hammers down]

My new neighbor's family farm is less than a mile from the new air strip site, and let me tell you from talking to him those people are shiten about this. He and i were having a little sip of whiskey sat night on my back pourch and he started telling be about it, the more whiskey he sipped the more he talked about it.

[Stripa Swipa]

Back when I "served at the pleasure of the president...." I tended to some of Uncle Sam's enviro affairs. The issues, like most, are more complicated than the news clip makes them seem. The saving grace in this scenario may well be the possibility of bird/air collisions. Geese are hell on jets.

[RLM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they have to replace any game land acre for acre used. meaning buy or restore elsewhere?

[Stripa Swipa]

Interesting train of thought. Keep in mind that many military bases are virtual wildlife refuges and once closed, will likely be developed into something that is a net loss for wildlife.