I’ve got more information on the Forks Airport cleanup. Apparently the stated purpose of the project, according to the documents filed at the Forks Library, is to cleanup toxic wastes left from WWII. This seems, on its surface, very straightforward. But given the Navy’s history of not being forthcoming about its plans, including the expansion of use of the West End, the huge difference between their public statements and their written plans, and long time hiding of landings of commandos in county and state parks and boat launches, it seems reasonable to suspect more to this than a simple cleanup.
Again, we are not against the Navy. We are against the Navy expanding its training here in the most inappropriate place possible. Between using our National Parks as flyover sites for high speed unmuffled jets, training in our waters that threaten endangered species that they clearly state in their documents that they will likely kill, and commandeering our public shorelines for night training, the Navy continues to show that they are not good neighbors and have no intention of being so. In other locations, the cleanup of airfields such as Forks has led to their use by the military. The Navy plans to train troops with helicopter access (a new addition to the growing list of Naval training here) is very likely to use a field such as Forks. If I lived in Forks, I’d be tracking this issue quite closely. Your peace and quiet are at stake. Probably your home property values also.
We will continue to follow this issue and hopefully better understand their plans soon.
Keep
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
Thanks for the update. There is currently no plan to repurpose Forks or Quillyaute (KUIL) into another Outlying Field.
Thank you for the update. My Team Whidbey sources – note the plural – tell me there is NO plan to turn Quillyaute (KUIL) into another Naval Outlying Field.
I look forward to reading every issue of the Olympic peninsula environmental news.
In your article on “Forks” clean up, you used “it’s” twice. You should have used “its” (no apostrophe). “It’s” means “it is”. “Its” is for possession.
Thank you and keep up the good work.