Navy’s proposed expansion of bombing range threatens outdoorsmen, endangered species
by Fred Bonner
It seems like the U.S. Government never stops trying to take over more land in North Carolina for one reason or another. If it’s not land (as in dry land) it’s our air space or our waters.
A few weeks ago when Gene Wooster from Alliance gave some fishing advice to a friend about where to go fishing in Pamlico Sound.
Wooster is the owner of Mobile East Marine in Alliance and spends most of his time repairing (and selling) boats from his store. From his talks with customers and his vast experience on the water of Pamlico Sound and the Neuse River, Gene has about as much knowledge about fishing for speckled trout and red drum as anyone I know.
Wooster’s friend, Owen, took his advice and fished the shoreline that was recommended and had fantastic luck catching red drum and a few specks in that location. Wooster told his friend that he’d best remember his good fishing there because it looked like the U.S. Navy was about to “take” that water and incorporate it into the BT-11 (Bombing Target) 11 restricted area. In so doing both sport and commercial fishermen would be completely banned from entering the area. Also, hunters, bird watchers and anyone not involved in practicing for warfare would be banned from using this section of N.C. public waterways.
Wooster and other concerned Tar Heels have formed a new group called “CEASE-FIRE” (Citizens Earnestly Against Serious Expansion From Increasing Range Encroachment).
The mission of the Cease-Fire Project is for MCAS Cherry Point to cease and desist from further encroachment upon the public trust waters and traditional fishing and boating grounds surrounding BT-11 at Piney Island. These waters have been accessible to boaters for over 50 years with little impact on bombing range operations. CEASE-FIRE intends to have MCAS honor the boundaries which they marked and established when they placed day-markers across the entrance to Rattan Bay and along the surrounding shoreline. We further intend for MCAS to make application for the required permitting process to make said historical boundaries the official prohibited area to be shown on nautical charts and in the Code of Federal Regulations section 334.420.
In recent meetings with the Navy, Wooster and Capt. Owen Lupton (another leader in the fight) get the feeling that the Navy’s planning to go ahead with their plan to expand BT 11 regardless of what the CEASEFIRE group or others feel is wrong.
It’s starting to sound like the OLF (Offsite Landing Facility in Camden County or Beaufort and Hyde Counties) issue all over again. Although the OLF issue seems to be “on the back burner for the time being” it’s not over yet. A friend was recently at a fundraiser in Virginia Beach and one of his tablemates was a pilot for the Navy at Oceana Naval Air Station. Not realizing that my friend was one of the landowners within the proposed OLF facility in North Carolina the pilot made several comments to the effect that “Our pilots need somewhere close by to conduct our landings and take-offs without the noise disturbing our neighbors here in Virginia. We also like the idea of being close by our home field (Oceana NAS) where we can wrap-up our practice mission then quickly return to the active social life we have here in Virginia Beach.” In other words, the Navy wants to give eastern North Carolina all the noise while Virginia Beach gets all the economic and social benefits of a resort community.
It’s seldom mentioned that the Marine Corps already has an OLF on Cedar Island that’s been there for many years and is largely unused.
Many of the Tar Heels I’ve talked with are strongly patriotic people and at times are hesitant about speaking out against the expansion of military operations in North Carolina. Still they say they’ve “about had enough of this now.” Many are veterans themselves and very familiar with the military way of doing things yet they’re upset with the encroachment of the military beyond their existing military operations within North Carolina.
There’s no question that the various branches of the military contribute a great deal to our state’s economy. Our state has traditionally been more than friendly toward the military, but many feel that the military has pushed our patience to the limit.
Although the endangered species “card” has been played against military operations at Ft. Bragg, this powerful tool has been largely ignored in the consideration of the proposed expansion of BT-11 (and BT-9) into Pamlico Sound.
Various environmental and governmental groups have it well documented that endangered and protected species such as sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic sturgeon, and even manatees are in the estuarine waters that surround BT-11 (and BT-9).
However, the military refuses to allow other groups into the restricted areas to study what’s there and if the years of continued weapons testing is having an effect on the wildlife within the restricted areas. If the military has conducted surveys of the areas, the information hasn’t been made available to other citizen groups.
With “Tax Time” just around the corner, we need to remember that every time you take land out of the tax base, someone’s personal taxes have go up to compensate for this loss of revenue at the government’s level. Have we had enough yet?
Visit Cease-Fire’s website at theceasefireproject.com.
Source: http://www.garnernews.net/pages/full_story/push?article-Navy%E2%80%99s+proposed+expansion+of+bombing+range+threatens+outdoorsmen-+endangered+species%20&id=4287625-Navy%E2%80%99s+proposed+expansion+of+bombing+range+threatens+outdoorsmen-+endangered+species&instance=secondary_sports_left_column
The Navy is also expanding its experimental war games to Alaska and public comment meetings are taking place in Alaska cities this week (January 7-11, 2010) regarding the recently released ‘Gulf of Alaska Draft EIS’, which would allow various testing, including mid-frequency active sonar beginning in the summer of 2010. The proposed training area is located in prime commercial fishing waters. Many marine mammals will be affected, possibly killed by the Navy’s activities. It’s not enough that the Navy is already doing various sonar exercises in the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, California, and up and down the whole east coast.
Thank you for letting us know. Are groups mounting opposition to the proposed activities? Networking with other anti-sonar groups? Please keep us posted about developments and best of luck!