OFCO Opposes the Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range
by Connie Gallant
What an incredible firestorm this has been for our treasured Olympic Peninsula! The U.S. Navy and Forest Service, in failing to properly notify residents of the Olympic Peninsula about a proposal to use Forest Service public lands to station mobile units in 15 potential sites throughout wilderness areas, have raised the anger and frustration of residents of the Peninsula—and the concern of many environmental organizations.
The U.S. Navy’s proposal to use land in the Olympic National Forest to train air and surface personnel in electronic warfare would include flying jets over the area. The Forest Service must approve the proposal before it can be implemented; however, notification to the general public on the Olympic Peninsula was totally omitted from the EA process, with the exception of a very small notice posted on a bulletin board somewhere in Forks. The Navy posted notifications in media outlets outside the Olympic Peninsula. By the time the general public found out about it, the deadline for comments had shortened substantially.
Such disregard for public notification of a very significant change to the lifestyle, health, and economic sustenance of the population is outrageous. Our Olympic Peninsula thrives today in offering recreational opportunities to stunningly beautiful places; the general economy has changed from largely timber-based to recreation-based. Our rivers, forests and mountains offer some of the most incredible scenic views in the world. The peace and tranquility experienced in our wilderness areas is a treasure by itself. Observing and photographing wildlife is one of the cherished privileges to be enjoyed here. All of that tranquility would disappear with the deafening roar of warplanes.
These Navy exercises would be conducted by large naval warplanes, Growler jets, launching from the U.S. Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island, to fly over the northern coast of the Peninsula and then inland over national forestland and Olympic National Park, for the purpose of targeting the vehicles’ aimed electromagnetic radiation. In the Environmental Assessment (EA), this is all for the purpose to train to deny the enemy “all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation (electromagnetic energy) for use in such applications as communication systems, navigation systems and defense related systems and components.“
The EA does not even mention noise pollution or that deafening roar of the Growler jets, and lists “no significant impacts” for public health and safety, biological resources, noise, air quality or visual resources. The health effects of electromagnetic radiation emissions is totally downplayed in the EA.
For such peace and tranquility to be shattered by large Growler jets flying over the areas in a 16-hour/day schedule for over 260 days/year is totally unacceptable. The noise and air pollution will disrupt humans, wildlife, and fauna/flora.
Electromagnetic noise disorients migratory birds. According to the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, we are part of the Olympic Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail, known for its wide variety of birds often having the highest number of bird species in the state during Christmas and May. EM noise can have catastrophic effects on the bird population, yet the EA downplays it to a “no significant impact”.
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OFCO’s initial comments were primarily concerned with the effects to the Marbled Murrelet:
Olympic Forest Coalition (OFCO) finds that the use of the Olympic National Forest is incompatible with protection of the ESA Threatened Marbled Murrelet and Northern Spotted Owl and with public dispersed recreation. We oppose the issuance of permits by the Olympic National Forest to use logging roads on the Olympic National Forest for this project. We contest the adequacy of the analysis and resulting assumptions of no impact in the Environmental Assessment of the Threatened species Marbled Murrelet and Northern Spotted Owl, which was prepared by the US Navy. We request that this training be moved to the currently existing test range in California.
The impacts on remote public recreational use of the forest could be significant, and are certainly inappropriate to a National Forest. The noise and the radiation are both sources of impact. The impact on Marbled Murrelets will be significant if any activities are held during the nesting season from March 1 through September 15. Operation in the winter months would not harm them, as they will be at sea. As your own analysis shows, the Sites 14, 4, 13, 12 and 3 are all in areas of high usage. Sites 11, 12, and 9 also have had significant usage. Below canopy observations are a clear indication of nesting. The noise of operations, the disturbance from the trucks and their crews and the potential impacts of the electromagnetic beams, all indicate that this activity does not belong in the Olympic National Forest, a key nesting and breeding site for a bird declining at the rate of 7% annually for the last ten years.
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OFCO will be submitting supplemental comments to address other issues.
If you have not done so already, please submit your comments by November 28 to:
Wahl, Gregory -FS
comments-pacificnorthwest-olympic-pacific@fs.fed.us