[CPEO-MEF] Pitt board asked to go 'NO OLF'

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

North Carolina
WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS
Pitt board asked to go 'NO OLF'
By Bill Sandifer
Tuesday, November 18, 2003

GREENVILLE -- The Pitt County Board of Commissioners heard a brief but
plaintive message Monday from North Carolinians Opposed to the OLF, a
coalition of Washington and Beaufort county residents opposing Navy
plans to construct an outlying landing field in Washington County.

In seeking support from the board, the recently formed group received
the backing of the Sierra Club, the North Carolina Natural Resources
Group and a Greenville bird club.

"It's one of the biggest controversies to hit North Carolina," said John
Anema, spokesman for the Cypress Group, an Eastern North Carolina
chapter of the Sierra Club representing 1,000 of 15,000 statewide
members.

Anema recapped for the board the bird-strike hazard some wildlife
biologists contend threatens the safety of pilots using the area as a
practice landing field.

He also cited Gov. Mike Easley's opposition to an OLF in Washington
County, adding that Tidewater Virginia gets 80 percent of the economic
benefits while "North Carolina gets the majority of the environmental
problems."

Eight of 10 new F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet squadrons -- which will be using
the OLF -- will be based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach,
Va. The other two squadrons are to come to Cherry Point Marine Corps Air
Station in Havelock.

Anema also cited environmental justice issues, contending that North
Carolina Tier 1 counties clearly can't compete in political clout with
an area such as Virginia Beach, Va., where residents formed a coalition
to seek relief from jet noise.

"These areas are losing their homes and farms because they don't have
political clout," he said of the two Eastern North Carolina counties
where the OLF is set to be built.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2003/11/18/news/news02.txt

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