New idea: An OLF where it's wanted

The countryside east of Vanceboro over in Craven County qualifies as a serious patch of Tar Heel boondocks. There's some timbering, and otherwise it mainly just helps to hold the world together.

But it's not uninhabited. So as much as the movers and shakers from nearby New Bern and Havelock might see this swatch of Craven as a splendid place for the Navy's proposed jet landing strip, there must be some folks who hope the Navy stands by its decision to build up near Plymouth.

Let's just hope they're not bird-lovers. That's more of a conscience-tester than someone should have to bear.

The Navy wants to build the so-called outlying landing field so pilots of Super Hornet fighters can practice the difficult, dangerous art of putting their own birds down on the heaving decks of an aircraft carrier, even in the dark of night. You can't blame these pilots for wanting all the practice they can get.

But for a complex tangle of reasons, some that still have to rate as mysterious, our naval commanders settled on a site for the OLF that is hard by one of the continent's primary wintering grounds for snow geese and tundra swans.

That poses disruption and possible dislocation for the supersized birds, which now are protected within the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. And it poses the risk of an in-flight collision that could bring down a plane and kill its pilot.

The Navy isn't oblivious to the safety risk. It thinks the risk can be managed. For example, it would try to change the birds' feeding habits so they don't come over from the refuge. If that doesn't work, it would use other strategies to scare them away or get rid of them. Poisoning and shooting would be last resorts.

Little wonder that the boss of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed up last week at a hearing in Plymouth to highlight the obvious -- having jets roar around next to a refuge for large migratory waterfowl just doesn't compute. That session was followed a couple of nights later by one in New Bern. This time, out came the red carpet.

So why not Craven? It's not a perfect site, but the Navy's favorite one is so far less than perfect that it's almost funny. Would be, if the Navy weren't already buying up property and otherwise churning along with a full head of steam.

A good guess as to why the Navy is so fond of the site south of Plymouth in Washington and Beaufort counties goes back to where the jets will be based.

Eight Super Hornet squadrons will fly out of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. Two will be based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, near Havelock. The Washington-Beaufort site is roughly midway between the two. The Craven site obviously is much closer to Cherry Point and farther from Virginia Beach. That would increase the time required for training flights and also their cost.

But this whole controversy is about trade-offs. The Navy evidently doesn't think it would be worthwhile to fly a little farther to avoid conflicts with the wildlife refuge. With pilot safety an issue, perhaps that thinking should be unthunk.

Not to slide too far down the conspiratorial slope, but is there also a worry that picking Craven County for the OLF would create pressure to move the whole Super Hornet operation to Cherry Point? Do Norfolk-area Navy folks not want to get stuck down in Marine Corps country?

With OLF plans in the pipeline, the Navy has been required to study environmental impacts at all the sites under consideration. A first whack at that exercise was deemed inadequate by the federal courts, and a second effort is now under way. It covers five sites, including the Navy's preferred Site C and Site E in Craven.

In stark contrast to Site C, the Craven site has no bird issues to speak of. Its only drawback involves wetlands -- some 900 acres out of a 2,000-acre core area.

Filling wetlands is a federal no-no unless certain steps are taken to mitigate the damage, such as restoring wetlands elsewhere. The Navy has this to say in its latest environmental study: "On-site mitigation options exist to offset any wetland impacts at OLF Site E." Messing with wetlands isn't something to be encouraged, but it might well be the lesser of evils.

Then there are the people. The latest study says that one house would have to be relocated if Site E were chosen, 24 houses would be exposed to unacceptably high noise levels and 38 to moderate noise. At Site C, 12 houses would have to be relocated, 14 would be exposed to high noise and 36 to moderate. The sets of numbers are similar. But Site C consists mainly of farmland, and many farmers outside the core would have to switch away from their usual crops such as winter wheat and corn to keep from attracting birds. No such problems at forested Site E.

It's hard to wish an OLF on anyone. But if Craven County continues to get the cold shoulder, we'll have ample reason to wonder just why it is that the Navy can't take yes for an answer.