Easley attacks Dole over airfield

Governor singles out the senator, says she is letting down people in Gates and Camden counties who oppose the Navy's plans

Gov. Mike Easley on Wednesday said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is failing residents of two counties where the Navy is considering building a jet landing strip by not speaking against the project.

In an unusually sharp exchange, the governor -- who had worked with the Navy to find the sites -- urged the state's congressional delegation to heed local opposition to the so-called outlying landing field in Eastern North Carolina.

"The people in Gates and Camden Counties do not want the OLF, therefore I do not want the OLF in Gates and Camden," Easley said in a prepared statement. "It is time for Elizabeth Dole to learn that she represents the people of North Carolina, including those counties."

The Easley administration had cooperated with the Navy in developing a list of six sites as alternatives to a location the Navy favored near a wildlife refuge. But on Wednesday, the governor released a letter to the state's congressional representatives, noting that local opposition to the airfield was overwhelming and calling on them to have the Navy look at more alternatives.

The Democratic governor's letter drew an immediate and negative response from the state's two Republican U.S. senators, who earlier this year united behind him in asking the Navy to reconsider its site near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

"We disagree with your view that the best course of action is now for the congressional delegation to recommend that the Navy develop yet another list of potential locations -- in addition to the 21 sites it is currently considering," Dole and Sen. Richard Burr said in a joint statement.

The senators said they had expected local residents to reject the sites the Easley administration and the Navy developed. They said the Easley administration should continue working with the Navy to find a site that has local support and meets the Navy's needs.

The senators' response drew an even sharper reply from Easley, and he focused on Dole, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"The U.S. Navy is funded by the U.S. Senate, therefore it responds and reports to the Senate," the governor said. "I hope Sen. Dole will accept her responsibility and speak for her people."

Sites soon

Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter is expected to announce soon which sites in North Carolina and Virginia it wishes to study more. The Navy wants to build a $230 million runway in a remote area far from city lights, enabling fighter pilots to simulate night landings on carriers.

The Navy has met opposition to the landing field almost from the start. It initially settled on a site near the wildlife refuge, an environmentally sensitive area that draws thousands of migratory birds a year, and drew the ire of local residents, environmentalists and, eventually, the state's top political leaders -- including Easley, Dole and Burr. In September, the Easley administration and the Navy announced six alternative sites in addition to five that had already been considered. Ten other sites are in Virginia.

When the new list was announced, it caught local officials and residents by surprise. Many complained the strip would be noisy and environmentally noxious, and provide few jobs.

"They were overwhelmingly opposed to an OLF in their communities," Easley said in a statement Wednesday. "They see an OLF as almost all burden and no benefit."

Jeffrey Jennings, a farmer and chairman of the Camden County commissioners, welcomed the governor as an ally in opposing an airfield in northeastern North Carolina. One of the proposed sites would take Jennings' potato farm.