Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
September 15, 2007 By Kate Wiltrout, The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK--It will be two more months before residents of a half-dozen rural Virginia counties know whether the Navy is serious about building a jet landing field in their midst.
On Friday , Navy officials at the Norfolk-based Fleet Forces Command forwarded their analysis of 11 potential Virginia sites – and an undisclosed number of sites in North Carolina – to the offices of the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations.
The recommendations were not made public.
“It would be premature to release any specific information or recommendations while the review process is ongoing,” said Lt. Bashon Mann , a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.
Over the next 60 days, Mann said, Navy leaders will decide whether any of the sites should be added to five already under consideration in eastern North Carolina.
Adding sites would require formal environmental analyses and a public comment period, which would push back the Navy’s already delayed timeline for the field. The Navy had hoped to issue a final supplemental environmental impact statement by the end of the year.
In 2003, the Navy said it would purchase 30,000 acres in North Carolina’s Washington and Beaufort counties for the field, but lawsuits and opposition from Democrat and Republican politicians forced the service to re open its search.
The Navy has been working for months with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley to find possible alternatives. North Carolina officials have not identified locations being discussed with the Navy.
In July , Virginia officials announced 10 potential sites for an outlying landing field in Sussex, Southampton, Surry, Greensville and King and Queen counties. U.S. Sen. John Warner offered a suggestion of his own: Fort Pickett , an Army National Guard post in Nottoway County .
All five counties’ boards of supervisors voted against the idea and asked Kaine to remove them from the Navy’s consideration. Rear Adm. David Anderson, deputy commander of Fleet Forces Command, had said the Navy would honor the state’s request to drop sites by Sept. 15 .
Bob Crouch , assistant to the governor for commonwealth preparedness, said Kaine did not do so, but “he certainly reserves the ability to do that” after the Navy narrows its focus.
The field would be used by pilots at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach to prepare for nighttime landings on aircraft carriers. Fentress Auxiliary Landing Field in Chesapeake currently serves that purpose, but development around the field has degraded training, admirals say.
The Navy hopes to start building a new field by 2010 and begin using it by 2012 . Fentress would continue to be used, though not as heavily .
September 15, 2007 By Kate Wiltrout, The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK--It will be two more months before residents of a half-dozen rural Virginia counties know whether the Navy is serious about building a jet landing field in their midst.
On Friday , Navy officials at the Norfolk-based Fleet Forces Command forwarded their analysis of 11 potential Virginia sites – and an undisclosed number of sites in North Carolina – to the offices of the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations.
The recommendations were not made public.
“It would be premature to release any specific information or recommendations while the review process is ongoing,” said Lt. Bashon Mann , a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.
Over the next 60 days, Mann said, Navy leaders will decide whether any of the sites should be added to five already under consideration in eastern North Carolina.
Adding sites would require formal environmental analyses and a public comment period, which would push back the Navy’s already delayed timeline for the field. The Navy had hoped to issue a final supplemental environmental impact statement by the end of the year.
In 2003, the Navy said it would purchase 30,000 acres in North Carolina’s Washington and Beaufort counties for the field, but lawsuits and opposition from Democrat and Republican politicians forced the service to re open its search.
The Navy has been working for months with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley to find possible alternatives. North Carolina officials have not identified locations being discussed with the Navy.
In July , Virginia officials announced 10 potential sites for an outlying landing field in Sussex, Southampton, Surry, Greensville and King and Queen counties. U.S. Sen. John Warner offered a suggestion of his own: Fort Pickett , an Army National Guard post in Nottoway County .
All five counties’ boards of supervisors voted against the idea and asked Kaine to remove them from the Navy’s consideration. Rear Adm. David Anderson, deputy commander of Fleet Forces Command, had said the Navy would honor the state’s request to drop sites by Sept. 15 .
Bob Crouch , assistant to the governor for commonwealth preparedness, said Kaine did not do so, but “he certainly reserves the ability to do that” after the Navy narrows its focus.
The field would be used by pilots at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach to prepare for nighttime landings on aircraft carriers. Fentress Auxiliary Landing Field in Chesapeake currently serves that purpose, but development around the field has degraded training, admirals say.
The Navy hopes to start building a new field by 2010 and begin using it by 2012 . Fentress would continue to be used, though not as heavily .