Olympic Peninsula Environmental News

From a friend, Carrol Hull. If any of you are coordinating citizen input with the Navy on this, you might want to contact her about working with her on this.

I don’t know if you have been keeping track on the Navy Electronic Warfare Training Project that has been in the news (Seattle Times & PDN) planned for the west side of the Olympic Peninsula.  There was an extension given for public input because the people in Forks demanded to have a meeting with the Navy and Forest Service. The Forest Service is the permit giving agency because the ground testing is carefully placed on forest service lands just outside the boundaries of the ONP.   100 people showed up for the meeting. 90% had very serious reservations about this projects. People from Sequim. PT and PA plus cities on the south western side of the Peninsula attended.   Many of those attendees asked for a similar meeting to be held in Sequim, PT and PA.  To do this we have to have the Forest Service extend its deadline past October 31st.  They won’t do this unless they get a healthy interest from more citizens in our areas.

Reasons for concern.  This is a potentially dangerous testing situation involving the first use of electromagnetic radiation for training Navy pilots.  The Navy has done its own environmental assessment (completed 3-4 years ago) and pronounced it safe except if you are in direct line of the beam.  No environmental impact assessment has been made by an independent outside source. The Navy has previously been doing testing in Idaho but now feel it is less expensive and better for pilots to do it closer to Whidbey Island.

 There are many questions left unanswered.  How many more Howler jets will be crossing over the Peninsula?  With the precedent set for military testing on the ONP, will future tests be automatically  authorized without public input?

How safe is this for our wildlife?   What increases in noise can we anticipate?  Can the Navy have a stronger leverage with the Forest Service than the general public?

So,  if you are in agreement that we should at least be able to have a public meeting on the east side of the Peninsula with both the Forest Service and the Navy, would you contact Greg Wahl of the Forest Service.  Ask him to please extend the deadline until the Navy agrees to have a meeting on this side of the Peninsula.

This is the correct spelling: Greg Wahl, (gtwahl@fs.fed.us)

Thank, Carrol

Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |