Noisy debate on the OLF

About the only people in North Carolina who say they support the Navy's desire to build an outlying landing field (OLF) on 30,000 acres in Washington and Beaufort counties are five Havelock city commissioners and me.

Endorsements from Havelock are to be expected, and thus forgiven by OLF opponents. Havelock is home to the Marines' Cherry Point Air Station, whose pilots would train at the OLF, if built. However, absolution is the last thing on the minds of people who have contacted me to set my mind right about the evils of the OLF.

My support of the Navy's Washington County preference has grown stronger since the release of a court-ordered supplemental environmental impact statement of five possible North Carolina sites. The draft relieved much of my concern over the collision risk of an F-18 Super Hornet and one of the 500,000 super-sized waterfowl that winter at the nearby Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

I forecast in a column last week that the report would be taken out of context and used as a scare tactic. At least one OLF opponent didn't disappoint. Her letter to the editor, published March 2, read in part: "The BASH Management Plan essentially states the way to manage the migratory birds ... is to deprive the birds of food by eliminating the waterfowl foraging habitat; use bird harassment techniques -- for example pyrotechnics, propane cannons, bio-acoustics, radio-controlled devices, chemical repellents, visual devices, trained dogs; and use lethal removal of birds through the application of toxicants and shooting."

If the nearby tundra swan and snow geese were to be subjected to that kind of treatment, I would oppose the Washington County selection.

But they're not. The natural sounding "foraging habitat" the letter-writer referred to is actually farmland. The Navy proposes replacing crops with grass, forcing the birds to again rely on their innate feeding habits instead of gorging on an agricultural free lunch. Although the Navy could technically use the techniques the letter lists, the conceptual BASH program for Washington County cites dogs as the primary harassment tool. Any lethal methods would require permission from the state and the U.S. Wildlife Service -- hardly a slam-dunk. The Navy can't just send out a bunch of sailors to shoot or poison birds.

Greg Jenkins, editor of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, was more representative of the e-mail messages I've received. He took aim at the confidence I have in the environmental impact study's waterfowl work overseen by Don Hunsaker II of San Diego State University, Susan Sheaffer of Cornell and Scott Petrie. All are Ph.D.s and experts. However, Jenkins reminded me, "The truly sobering fact is that no matter how many Ph.D.s you ask, no one can tell you with certainty how waterfowl will behave if the OLF project is carried out in the way the Navy would like and that you endorse."

Others wrote to say that a North Carolina OLF is more a political move than a military one. James Daniels and Vernon Hunter of Raleigh scolded me for not noting that an Eastern North Carolina site would reward Virginia politicians for allowing irresponsible development around the Oceana Master Jet Base outside of Virginia Beach and its designated OLF, Fentress Field. Hunter didn't mince words.

"Virginia's desire to export all of the noise and problems to eastern N.C. and keep all of the jets and accompanying jobs in Virginia is akin to having great growth in the Tidewater Region and exporting all of the trash and sewage to N.C."

No argument here, but any real opportunity to make that case is over. If our state's political leaders were truly concerned about an OLF in Eastern North Carolina, they would have supported the Base Relocation and Closure Commission's effort to phase out Oceana. Yet Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, and Gov. Mike Easley, sat idle while Virginia Sen. John Warner laid down the law about Oceana to the BRAC Commission. Our leaders also kept quiet last year when Florida's Cecil Field was explored as a viable Oceana alternative. Given those critical missed opportunities, any OLF opposition from them this late in the game rings hollow.

Although other sites could work -- including the governor's pick, Craven County -- Washington County's strategic location between Oceana and Cheery Point makes it the best military option. Which is exactly why it should be the place where the OLF is built.