Navy rejects mediation

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

North Carolina
WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS
Navy rejects mediation
By Bill Sandifer
Tuesday, January 13, 2004

RALEIGH -- The Navy has rejected a call by Gov. Mike Easley on the last
day of 2003 for mediation on the siting of an outlying landing field in
Eastern North Carolina.

The governor had asked the U.S. Department of Commerce, as authorized by
law, to resolve a dispute between the Navy and the Department of the
Interior.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a bureau within DOI, repeatedly has
challenged the Navy's selection of the Washington County site for
construction of an OLF as unacceptable because of its proximity to
Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, less than five miles away.

Citing its own bird population database collected over decades, USFWS
maintains that pilots and birds will be in constant conflict, despite
Navy claims that it can manage bird-aircraft strike hazards. By the
Navy's own admission, conditions at the Washington County site are
"severe" for at least half the year.

PLNWR and surrounding farmland provide the primary foraging ground and
winter habitat for some 100,000 tundra swans, snow geese and Canada
geese. Tundra swans can weigh up to 20 pounds and fly in flocks so dense
that they can resemble a cloud.

The Navy didn't respond directly to the governor's request. Easley was
included in copies sent to Department of the Interior Secretary Gale
Norton and Assistant Secretary Craig Manson as well as U.S. Sen.
Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2004/01/13/news/news02.txt

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