Easley wants airfield funds withheld

Navy won't back off plans to locate a jet landing strip near Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

Gov. Mike Easley on Friday expressed disappointment that the Navy proposed again to build a jet landing strip beside a national wildlife refuge and for the first time urged Congress to withhold money for the project.

Easley said the Navy's new environmental study shows the Navy remains unwilling to fully consider "reasonable alternatives" despite efforts by his administration to find another site.

"I believe this matter can be resolved, but spending millions of dollars to build the proposed outlying landing field next to a world-renowned wildlife refuge for migratory birds is not an acceptable resolution," Easley said in a letter to North Carolina's congressional delegation. "Congress controls the purse strings for this project, and Congress should withhold funding until the Navy is willing to consider reasonable alternatives."

The Navy has begun assembling 30,000 acres at the site straddling Washington and Beaufort counties to build the $231 million runway. Earlier this month, it submitted a request to Congress for $10 million to continue acquiring land and planning for the site.

The site is about five miles from Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge hosts about 100,000 migratory waterfowl each winter, including flocks of tundra swans and snow geese, plus a small population of endangered red wolves.

Opponents have argued that the aircraft noise would harm wildlife and expose pilots to the risk of bird-plane collisions.

A court-ordered supplemental environmental study, released Friday by the Navy, reaffirmed that the site remains its choice for training pilots to land on aircraft carriers.

Squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia and at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock would use the runway to practice the landings.

Environmental groups and the two counties had successfully challenged the plan in court, arguing that the Navy's initial study did not adequately consider the environmental harm of the airstrip. A federal court ordered a more thorough environmental study.

The Navy's new environmental report acknowledges that since its earlier studies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has documented increases in the red wolf population. Wildlife biologists recorded eight red wolves using the proposed landing field site and 32 more wolves on lands bordering the site. The Navy said it would work with Fish and Wildlife officials to lessen the harm to animals.

The study said the aircraft activity would bring some unavoidable run-ins with waterfowl inhabiting the area, but they would be minor. It said the aircraft noise would cause only minor disturbance to waterfowl, because they would get accustomed to it.

The Navy's plan calls for using approximately 2,000 acres in the core area that includes an 8,000-foot runway and a five-story traffic control tower. The remaining 28,000 acres would serve as a buffer. Rather than buying all 30,000 acres, the Navy may buy land use rights and allow some residents to continue living there. The airfield would have about 31,650 military aircraft operations a year.

The new study said the Navy would convert cropland in the 2,000-acre core area to turf grass, reducing its attractiveness to waterfowl.

Nearly 17,000 acres of the surrounding area are now planted in corn and soybeans. The Navy would also control what crops are planted on that land to remove the food supply and foraging habitat that attracts wildlife.

"Winter wheat is a key attraction for the waterfowl," said Dan Cecchini, a biologist for the Navy. "That is the attraction for swans."