House budget says Navy needs local support (OLF)
U.S. House axes Washington County OLF site.
"The House has taken the Washington County site off the table because it posed a danger to the community, pilots and aircraft," wrote Butterfield, a Democrat from Wilson. "This is a clear message that if the Navy wants to move forward with an OLF it must have the support of the community."
Now we have all 4 big boys saying the Navy needs to have local support before moving forward with their OLF site!
The roster of elected officials opposed to this OLF or stating local support is required:
Camden County board of commissioners
Gates County board of commissioners
Perquimans County board of commissioners
Washington County board of commissioners
Beaufort County board of commissioners
Mayor of Plymouth, Brian Roth (opposing this for some time)
State Senator Jones
Representative Butterfield
Governor Easley
Senator Dole
Senator Burr
Counties that I belief are against it, but I cannot prove it
Pasquotank, Hyde, Currituck, Chowan, Bertie, Hertford.
Folks that have mentioned they are opposed to it, but I cannot prove it.
Lt Gov Purdue
Dan Besse (I think he is a County Commissoner or City legislator?)
State Rep Owens is the only person in Northeast North Carolina that has stated if the Navy will sweeten the pot by say $5 million and a county water project, then maybe someone would accept this thing. Owens is the only elected official that I know of that is quasi for this OLF.
If anyone knows of other elected officials opposing this that wish to be enumerated, please add below.
This is great........
At the beginning of the year it did not seem like we had this magnitude of support and now we do.
Thanks all who have been lobbying and keeping this OLF fight on the minds of North Carolinians and our elected officials. In 2003, the Navy attempted to condemned 30,000 acres of land near Pocoson Wildlife Refuge, now, they are losing the money needed to carry out their plan and now have to convince the local community they will soon select to allow them to place this OLF in their community.
The Navy can still push through with their plan to drive this OLF into a community that does not wish it, but the opposition will be even greater now. The Navy has not been told to stay out of North Carolina, they have been told to ask and work with a community if they want this OLF.
The BlueNC community is greatly helping the efforts of Northeast North Carolina to have a quality of life that we desire.
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Thanks, Parmea
You all have shown what can happen when committed citizens decide to take things into their own hands. Somebody's going to write a book about this . . . a classic David and Goliath story . . . and a great lesson for other communities who want to stand up for themselves.
Dan Besse
is a city councilman in Winston Salem, whose running for Lieutenant Governor.
Dan Besse
Spoke at the Perquimans Public Hearing opposing the OLF at all North Carolina sites. He drove from Winston-Salem and stayed to speak even though he had to wait and speak at the end of the hearing.
True True!
He has been opposed to it, but I just cannot find anything in writing that I can reference.
When he was at Perquimans County, his opposition was genuine and low key. He was not bragging on himself and saying look at me, vote for me.... He was here to tell the Navy his desires and to show solidarity for us fighting this. He was here fighting along side us. He had a stance and conveyed that to me.
I like that in Mr. Besse.
Here it is in writing.
Hi again, and thanks for remembering my comments.
I was pleased to speak out against a bad proposal. I've been delighted by the course of events since then. Our state's representatives have (finally) pitched in strongly against the several bad proposed sites for the OLF. The debate has completely changed, and the burden of proof now rests with the proponents of a site to prove that it is suitable.
It was critical that opponents were able to show that we are not anti-military. In fact, the safety of Navy pilots was a major part of our concerns.
It was important too that the need for a new field was always in question. The drive to build an OLF has been driven largely by a local desire around the Oceana base to reduce noise there, rather than any technical unsuitability of that field for the legitimately needed carrier pilot training. As a result, the assertion that we had to immediately accept one of the initial site proposals failed to hold up to factual examination.
There may well be potential OLF sites that are both technically suitable and locally supported. If so, we should be able to arrive at a consensus choice for one of those.
Dan Besse
Democrat for Lieutenant Governor
Thanks, Dan.
I agree with you Mr. Besse
this OLF should go where the people, local governments and the Navy all desire it. Failure by any of these 3 sides to accept this OLF means the site is not viable and should not be considered.
If the Navy corrects the problem around Oceana and Fentress and then shows where the assets under Atlantic Fleet control cannot meet the needs of pilot training, then an argument to eminent domain a site might be made. The Navy needs to commit to Oceana and correct the problems there before requiring me to commit to supporting an OLF in my county.
As of today, the Navy cannot prove they must have this OLF to support Oceana and Fentress as those sites can do the mission of training pilots for deployment at sea on aircraft carriers. Those two sites have been performing the mission for the Navy for some time. By the Navy's own statements, the planes have gotten better requiring less practice on the pilots part reducing the total number of operations to qualify. By the end of fiscal year 2008, the Navy is suppose to have all the planes for the Atlantic Fleet and will be down 96 total planes from 2000. An overall reduction of 38% in flight operations. If Oceana could do the job in 2000, then why do they need to come to North Carolina now? Nothing has changed at the fields, only the continuing encroachment problem that the Navy has done little to correct.