Perhaps I have missed it, but I have not seen a Daily Kos headline referencing the Navy War Games happening on the public forest lands and rich coastal waters of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.
The US Navy plans to permanently use and periodically close large swathes of the Olympic National Forest, along with airspace over it and the Olympic National Park as well as the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, for electromagnetic warfare testing and training. They are also ramping up their use of explosives and sonar and training activities in the waters surrounding the Olympic Peninsula. Their stated goal is to turn the western portion of Washington's Olympic Peninsula and surrounding waters into an Electromagnetic Warfare Range. The area encompasses a world heritage site and one of our national treasures: the Olympic National Park.
An unknown number of Growler jets will engage in electronic warfare testing and training over the Olympic Peninsula, by flying 8 to 16 hours per day for 260 days per year. The Navy's stated intent is to turn the area into an Electronic Warfare range. The public is worried about jet noise, pollution, electromagnetic radiation, stress, loss of our tourism-based economy, decline in property values, and a number of other issues. According to the Navy's own statistics on older aircraft, a jet flying at 1000 feet of altitude will produce 113 decibels, which is above the human pain threshold and enough to cause permanent damage to hearing.
The people of the United States deserve to know that the US Navy (and other military agencies) are engaging in more domestic training on and over our public lands, ignoring the public's demands for more information and adherence to environmental guidelines. No one is disputing the need for the military to train - but doing so at the health risk of our forests, rich coastal waters, wildlife, and human population is simply not acceptable.
The US Navy is also ignoring our political representatives' requests for listening to the public.
For more information posted on a local citizen's group, go to:
http://westcoastactionalliance.org/...
Please pass this information along - the national parks, forests, and rich coastal oceans belong to all of us!