[CPEO-MEF] N.C. agency reconsiders support for Navy airfield

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

North Carolina
HERALD TRIBUNE
N.C. agency reconsiders support for Navy airfield
November 24, 2003

A state agency is reconsidering its earlier endorsement of a Navy plan
to build an airfield near a national wildlife refuge in Washington
County.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management has sent a letter to Navy
Secretary Gordon England, saying the Navy's decision in September to
build the airfield is significantly different from an earlier proposal.
The division asked the Navy's permission to re-evaluate the northeastern
N.C. site.

The state's challenge to the airfield is based on a federal law that
says federal activities have to be consistent with the state's coastal
management policies. North Carolina agreed last year that the Navy
proposal fit state standards.

"There's no one silver bullet that will stop the (airfield). This is one
of several options that we're looking at," said Cari Boyce, spokeswoman
for Gov. Mike Easley, who opposes the site.

The practice landing field would serve F/A-18 Super Hornet jetfighters
to be based at Cherry Point, near the North Carolina coast, and Virginia
Beach, Va.

The jets would conduct about 16,000 touch-and-go maneuvers a year to
practice landing on aircraft carriers.

The field would be about five miles from Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife
Refuge, where more than 100,000 waterfowl including snow geese and
tundra swans spend each winter.

Critics say the planes could disturb the birds, which fly off the refuge
to feed in nearby fields, and could hit them in midair.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031125/APN/311250551

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