[CPEO-MEF] ENCROACHMENT: "The Military Wants to Dictate Private Land Use -- and Washington State Might Let It"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The Military Wants to Dictate Private Land Use -- and Washington State Might Let It

By Dahr Jamail
Truth-out
January 24, 2018

If a new bill in the Washington State legislature is passed, commanders of military bases could have the power to impact land use planning anywhere in the state.

Critics of the bill fear it would be a slide down the slippery slope of allowing the military free reign to do what it wants -- wherever it wants to do it -- within the state, with little or no recourse by the citizens it could impact. For example, the Navy, which has already expressed a desire to control marine traffic along Puget Sound's Hood Canal region, could decide to close the waterway to all civilian traffic. Another Navy wish has been to end civilian drone traffic over civilian land near its bases -- and it could decide to end it over the entire state. (While many might celebrate the end of drones, it would still be an instance of the military impeding civilian liberties.)

This could mean an expansion of military training exercises into private lands, forcing people to move.
"This is truly alarming and driven by the Department of Commerce's efforts to militarize our state," Larry Morrell, a military veteran and founder of the Sustainable Economy Collaborative, a group of residents in Washington's Island County working to "building a thriving, just, and sustainable" economy, told Truthout.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43303-the-military-wants-to-dictate-private-land-use-and-washington-state-might-let-it

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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