Navy's Outlying Landing Field (NC)
What's at stake?
Environmental Impacts
Approximately 100,000 tundra swans and snow geese and hundreds of thousands of other waterfowl winter on Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Eighty percent of the entire eastern population of tundra swans winter in northeastern North Carolina and one quarter of these stay on Pocosin Lakes NWR. The tundra swans and snow geese on the refuge feed in the surrounding agricultural lands, including the site of the proposed OLF. Winter food and habitat are critical to waterfowl to maintain overall fitness for migration and successful reproduction on Arctic breeding grounds.
The proposed landing field would be constructed within 3.5 miles of the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR. Approach, departure, and holding patterns for the proposed OLF would routinely fly over the refuge at low altitudes. The Navy's own rating system classifies the bird collision hazard at the site as "severe" for 50% of the year. Bird collisions have resulted in substantial losses of military and civilian aircraft and lives of pilots and passengers. The Navy plans to use "lethal and non lethal" means to exclude waterfowl from lands surrounding the practice field in an attempt to reduce the severe bird collision hazard. If the birds are scared off, they will pose no hazard to Navy pilots.
Noise from constant aircraft landings and take-offs and low altitude flights surrounding the practice filed likely will lead to waterfowl abandoning the areas altogether. This, combined with constant noise and disturbance from aircraft at the OLF, will greatly diminish the visitor experience at Pocosin Lakes NWR which sees 34,000 visitors per year. The Navy overlooked attractive alternative OLF sites that would have minimal environmental impacts and may provide opportunities for environmental enhancement. Many federal and state agencies, public officials, communities and organizations have requested that the Navy pursue an alternative, more appropriate OLF site.
Community Impacts
The Navy estimates 31,650 practice aircraft landings and take-offs annually at the proposed OLF -- approximately one every 15 minutes. Landings would occur around the clock, mainly at night. Engines on the new Super Hornet jets are extremely loud. An existing OLF in southeastern Virginia, meets the training needs of the Navy, but the Navy prefers to construct a new OLF in response to noise complaints and lawsuits by communities near the existing OLF.
The OLF at the proposed site in Washington and Beaufort counties in North Carolina would devastate one of the poorest areas of the state. In Washington County, where approximately 80% of the OLF would be located, 22% of residents are living in poverty, and the median income is less than $29,000 per year. Forty-nine percent of the population is African American. Comparatively, in Chesapeake County, Virginia, where the existing OLF is located, the median household income is over $50,000 per year, and only 7% of the residents live in poverty. Twenty-nine percent of the population is African American. The disparities between the counties - one wealthy the other poor - is striking.
The Navy plans to acquire through sale or condemnation at least 45 square miles surrounding the practice field in an attempt to mitigate the bird hazard and control limit development in the surrounding area. In fact, on Friday, January 14, the Navy took 1,572 acres of land. For many whose land would be taken, their families have worked the land for generations - one resident has the original deed of land signed by King George of England in 1742. For those who earn their livelihood on the family farm, this results not only in the loss of a home, but also in the loss of a job, a community, a heritage and a way of life.
