If I were a resident, I suppose that I would be considered a radical because
I would tell them flat out that I didn't want my home used for war games,
regardless of what they say the impact would be. The war on terror is
swallowing us up. I don't want them flying over the mid east. I absolutely
cannot tolerate what this country has turned into.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2015 4:10 PM
To: blind-democracy
Subject: [blind-democracy] from the Tacoma News Tribune: Navy War Games on
Olympic Peninsula
Thought I'd sent this, but it bounced. We seem to have generated enough
commotion last Fall to slow down the Navy's plan. I doubt they are going to
go away, and even if they do it is not the real issue here. The public is
not being properly informed regarding government plans which impact local
citizens.If the Navy has been planning since 2012, why did we only find out
last year? Even our Department of Natural Resources failed us. It comes
down to the question, "Whose Government is it, anyway?" And the answer is
looking pretty scary.
Carl Jarvis
***
From the Tacoma News Tribune; June, 2015
A wave of letters last fall from the public persuaded the Department of
Natural Resources to rethink its implied support for a Navy training
proposal that its staffers had followed since at least 2012, according to
documents obtained by The News Tribune.
That proposal would allow the Navy to step up its regular jet training over
the Olympic Peninsula by challenging pilots to find communication signals
sent from trucks at different points in state and national forests. It
hinges on the Navy getting permission from the U.S. Forest Service and the
Department of Natural Resources to drive trucks into the woods on old
logging roads.
State Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark in February wrote a letter that
effectively took three sites in state forests out of consideration,
surprising Navy officials who thought Goldmarks agency had indicated in the
fall of 2012 that it wouldnt block the request.
That changed, Goldmark said, when his office received an outpouring of phone
calls, emails and letters describing fears of Olympic Peninsula residents
that noise from Navy jets would disrupt the forest and possibly harm
wildlife. About a dozen other sites are still under consideration by the
U.S. Forest Service.
What surprised me in terms of the complaints I heard was that it came from
what I would call mainstream people that expressed concern about the Navys
proposals, Goldmark said. These werent radicals. These were people who
had been living in the community many years. Some of them are parents of
sailors.
Public concerns
about the so-called electronic warfare training range escalated last fall
as the U.S. Forest Service prepared to close out an environmental impact
study that was expected to approve the Navys request.
It distressed residents on the Olympic Peninsula and users of the forestland
who studied reports that suggested prolonged, direct contact with signals
sent out by the trucks could disrupt wildlife or harm people. As a result,
the Forest Service extended its public comment period for the proposal. It
is now studying the more than 3,000 statements it received.
There appears to be a dangerous disconnect between the military
governments desire for war games and resource habitat needs. We would argue
that it is critical to the long-term health of a waterway and natural
resource that we carefully balance the needs to expand military
experimentation disguised as training, wrote Friends of Grays Harbor
President Arthur Grunbaum.
The likelihood of anyone being hurt by the trucks is minimal, state and Navy
officials say. A person would have to sit directly in front of the beam for
an extended period of time to be harmed the radiation emitted from signals,
which would be difficult because theyre expected to be sent from equipment
15 feet above ground.
Goldmark and many residents are more concerend about the possibility that
the Navy will increase flights, escalate noise or possibly disrupt
endangered species.
We all respect the Navy for the security they provide for the state and the
nation, Goldmark said. That doesnt meant they get carte blanche to do
whatever they want with the citizens and state agencies they need to
cooperate with.
The Navy proposal
uses sometimes broad language to describe potential environmental impacts.
It says it would send two trucks to about 15 different locations up to 260
days a year while also using a fixed site at Pacific Beach. The training
could take place up to 12 hours a day.
When the Navy gives specific answers to direct questions, the proposal can
sound less imposing.
For example, one of Goldmarks staffers in January 2013 asked the Navy how
often sailors would park at a particular site in a state forest.
The answer
was no more than six times a year.
Stung by criticism, Navy officials lately have been trying to assure the
public that residents wont notice the flights or the trucks. Navy jets
already fly almost daily over the Olympic Peninsula in airspace dedicated to
government training.
We have operated there just about every day for 38 years, said Capt.
Scott Farr, deputy commander of the Pacific Fleets electronic attack wing
at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
John Mosher helped select the sites on old logging roads as environmental
program manager for Pacific Fleet Northwest. Itll be an invisible change,
he said. What will be seen or observed by someone on the Olympic peninsula
is not going to change.
The Navys electronic warfare proposal has been in the works since 2010,
when the Navy adopted an environmental study that looked at ways its
operations in the Northwest might impact wildlife.
It wants to use the signal trucks to more realistically simulate the kind of
enemy electronic communications Navy pilots find when they fly over
battlefields in the Middle East. EA-18 Growlers based at Whidbey Island have
been searching for Islamic State signals on recent deployments to that
region.
I consider the continuing use of that range as key to the mission,
Navy Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker said on a recent visit to NAS Whibdey
Island. Hes the commander of all naval air operations.
Navy officials first signaled their intent to ask the state for permission
to use communications trucks on the ground to complement their training over
the peninsula in September 2012, when they invited Department of Natural
Resources officials to participate in a conference call about the plan.
The Navy also distributed a document describing how the training would work.
It invited officials to tour some of the sites, according to an email
obtained by The News Tribune.
Thanks for the information. A quick review has enabled me to decide I do
not need to attend in person or, via conference call, replied a Department
of Natural Resources supervisor. He raised some concerns about liability,
but said, This should not be difficult to manage.
Two years later, when the Navy proposal caught fire among residents, DNR
returned to the Navy asking for more information. DNR staffers raised new
concerns about equipment, the strength of frequencies and access.
Still, some staffers assumed the project would get a green light.
It seems as though the Navy has either answered (DNR questions) previously
or gave us the opportunity to deal with them earlier. I recommend we give
some overarching guidance to them and work with them to adopt, a DNR
environmental review manager wrote to her colleagues in October.
Public comments voicing concerns about the proposal continued to pour
inuntil Goldmark in February published his letter indicating DNR preferred
not to allow the Navy training.
DNR officials noted that many residents appeared to celebrate his decision
in online forums and on social media outlets.
One person, though, sent an email to DNR that indicated he believed the Navy
was being treated unfairly.
Couldn't the U.S. Navy simply purchase some Discover passes and do it,
anyway? he asked.
Matthew Randazzo, Goldmarks senior adviser, replied to the writer that
passionate resistance from thousands of residents on the Olympic Peninsula
caused the agency to take a hard look at the proposal.
This time, DNR leaders concluded they had serious concerns about how
increased jet noise might impact habitat for endangered species.
