Olympic National Park Is One Step Closer to Losing Its World Heritage Designation

by Karen Sullivan, West Coast Action Alliance, and OFCO member

After scientists at the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) reviewed the Navy’s Environmental Assessment on establishing an electronic warfare range on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, they noted that part of the Military Operating Area falls within the boundaries of a World Heritage Site, yet nowhere is there a discussion of impacts. In a letter to the U.S. Ambassador, UNESCO recommended that a  “… full environmental and social impact assessment of activities in and outside the property [be conducted], which may have potential effects on the overall Outstanding Universal Value.”

What does this mean? It’s not just the fact that military jet noise and pollution threaten our beloved park’s World Heritage designation; it’s the very idea that the Navy can muscle in and destroy it and the tourism economy of surrounding areas, as well as the famous quiet on the Olympic Peninsula, by using a deliberately disingenuous public process and accepting no responsibility for the consequences of its actions. That is neither the definition of a good neighbor, nor good government.