Outstanding comment, Marinkovich represents the intellect of those concerned about lack of U. S. Navy and Forest Service ethics, integrity, our democratic process and understanding about the passion of citizens for the Olympic National Forest. Mary Bradley Marinkovich 6 hrs · Port Townsend, WA · Edited · I POSTED THIS COMMENT to PDN article (see article below). It is the crux of issue Alllowing the Navy to conduct the environmental assessment for its own Electronic Warfare project--a project already funded by and which is the highest priority of top Navy Brass--reflects a complete lack of objectivity and failure of common sense--not to mention a conflict of interest that would be apparent to a ten year old. No surprise then that their assessment is based on embarassingly superficial, unscientific, outdated and incomplete information. It is handily silent on the attack elements of the project in which beams of microwaves/electrons are fired from sky to ground to jam ground communications. The Navy absurdly maintained at last nights PA meeting that if animals or people were in the vicinity it would shut down operations. What we have here is insulting mendacity. Animals (not to mention people) are always in the vicinity because the designated World Biosphere of the Olympic National Park is positively rife with a massive and unique cascade of wildlife. And the extent of policing on this point according to the Navy is a couple of kids sitting in a windowless panelled WARGAMES van with joysticks and absolutely no training or background in environmental science. Last but not nearly LEAST--you dont need a Ph.D to know this--it makes no sense to have Navy Jets screaming above the nations only ancient rainforest, and over a National Parkland so rare that it is protected by no less than seven federal fragile ecosytem designations...Jets hammering away at the silence day in and day out for several hours per day over 274 days a year...I dont need an EI to know this shatters the peace and biorhythms of every creature that lives there. Living a few miles from their Growler hangars on Whidbey Island, I am now reminded of the 17 years I worked in an airline office on OHare Field. Unremitting jet noise was a problem to me then as it is now. My nerves are now again frayed from the jet noise as I sit in my PT house. Just months ago--the Navy practiced simulated strafing runs !!! for HOURS ( they admitted it later) over the city of Port Townsend late into the evening (without prior public announcement) fighter planes screaming only a few hundred feet above our homes, terrifying ourselves and our kids in their cribs and beds--as if we were an enemy population. This narcissism is bred of ignorance that the Navy (paid for by us) is and will always be subordinate to the will of the American people. As to the Travesty of a dog and pony show held in PA last night.... the prelude to the Open Meeting laws it states: •The people do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. •The people, in delegating authority, do not give public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. •The people insist on remaining informed so they may retain control over the instruments they have created. ~ RCW 42.30.010 Furthermore, federal regulation 40 CFR, 1506.6 (a) mandates that when a project such as this engenders substantial public controversy regarding its Environmental Impact, a Public Hearing must be duly convened to hear and record public comment. When I made that point at the podium, Mr. Millet (Forks) of the Forest Service--who is fronting this process--denied it. Instead of a bona fide legal hearing, Millet is hiding behind the skirts of Navy Q*A sessions moderated by a woman from the League of Women Voters. This is why the normally friendly and intelligent people of the Peninsula got their blood up. There is NO issue so dear to our hearts as stewardship for these wild and beautiful National lands. This is a Forest Service competence problem. Millet is way out of his depth on all counts. He is the sacrificial goat that the National Forest Service has sent to stand between the rock and a hard place.of the United States Navys unswerving intent to convert the ONP into its war playground, and the People of the United States of America. It is we the people of the Olympic Peninsula who now stand in the breach for the true owners of this precious and priceless land, the current and future generations of our country. Mary Bradley Marinkovich/ Port Townsend WA.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 02:01:37 +0000
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