[CPEO-MEF] Sen. Warner (VA) and North Carolina's proposed "OLF"

[lsiegel@cpeo.org]

Warner rankles OLF forces

By BILL SANDIFER
Washington Daily News (NC)
October 2, 2005

Virginia's top U.S. senator is not giving up a fight to convince all but
the BRAC Commission that Virginia Beach and Naval Air Station Oceana are
made for each other. An August decision by the Defense Base Closure and
Realignment Commission would send all Super Hornet squadrons to Florida
unless Virginia Beach, by April, meets drastic mandates to roll back
development encroachment on Navy facilities. If Oceana's fighters are
shipped to Florida, the need for an outlying landing field proposed for
Washington and Beaufort counties would likely disappear: Florida's
former NAS Cecil Field has its own OLF -- Whitehouse Field. Such fields
are used to train pilots in aircraft carrier landings.

Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, wrote the
Navy, saying he is "encouraged" by the recent narrowing of a
court-ordered injunction that halted OLF progress in eastern North
Carolina: "Quickly moving forward on this project will be a strong
signal of the Navy's intent to rectify the operational constraints cited
by the Commission at the Fentress OLF."

Fentress currently serves Oceana, but noise complaints from neighbors
prompted the Navy to look outside the area for a new OLF.

Although the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most of the district
court's findings that resulted in the injunction, the appeals court
panel narrowed the injunction to allow the Navy to continue planning and
land purchases from voluntary sellers only. No condemnation is allowed
against unwilling sellers.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2005/10/02/news/news02.txt

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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