WASHINGTON - The House Armed Services Committee is considering a military bill this morning that could steer the Navy away from the eastern North Carolina site on which it wants to build an outlying landing field.

Reps. David Price and G.K. Butterfield, both Democrats, are trying to insert language regarding the airstrip into the annual Defense Authorization Bill. The committee is trying to finish writing the language of the bill today, a process called a “mark-up.”

The bill is a sweeping piece of legislation that covers national defense programs. Individual lawmakers often use the annual legislation as a vehicle to shape specific policy.

The language regarding the outlying landing field isn’t final, but Price spokesman Paul Cox said it will include restrictions on the Navy’s plans for the airstrip.

The Navy wants to build the airstrip in Washington County, a few miles from the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge and the wintering home of tens of thousands of migratory birds. The plan to build on the site has drawn overwhelming opposition, including from state leaders and most of North Carolina’s congressional delegation.

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter has told members of Congress he is willing to consider alternative locations for the field. It would serve as a practice landing strip for fighter jets from Oceana Naval Air Base in Virginia and Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point.

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