Mar
14
Written by:
Dan Besse
3/14/2007
"Washington politics is threatening Navy pilots' lives, coastal family farms, and one of the most important wildlife refuges in North Carolina," wrote Besse, in a letter to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM). "North Carolina should use its authority under federal law to put the brakes on this foolish choice of field location."
Besse asked the coastal agency to conclude that the proposed site, near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Beaufort and Washington counties, is inconsistent with North Carolina's coastal management plan. Under federal law, that finding by the state would trigger further reviews that could block construction of the field there.
Now a city council member in Winston-Salem, Besse previously spent ten years living in New Bern and working for legal clients across a ten-county coastal region which included Beaufort and Washington counties. During that time, he served for eight years (five years as chair) on the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission, which oversees North Carolina's coastal resources management program. (For more information on Besse's background and experience, see www.danbesse2008.org.)
"I know that area from personal experience," said Besse. "Our people there love their land, both their farms and their wildlife. They also deeply respect our men and women in uniform. They know that you don't put a training airfield where our pilots and planes will be at maximum risk of crashes caused by bird strikes. Let's insist that the folks in Washington go back and use a little common sense for a change."
In addition to the unnecessary risk to Navy pilots, building the training field (called an "outlying landing field" or OLF) at the proposed site would compromise up to 100 family farms and disrupt critical wintering grounds for the east coast's migratory waterfowl (swans, geese, and ducks).
Farmers and local governments in the region, aided by wildlife conservation groups, are fighting the proposed site near the wildlife refuge through legal action. Last year, a federal court directed the Navy to reconsider the site selection, but the newest draft reports from the Navy signal its intent to keep pursuing the Pocosin Lakes site. Governor Mike Easley and U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC1) are among the North Carolina leaders who also are calling for the OLF to be built at a safer location.
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