Turning Olympic Peninsula into the Navy's Electronic Warfare Testing Range
Last night there was a public meeting in the Clallam County Democrats' office regarding the Navy's proposal to turn Olympic National Park and the Olympic Peninsula into their personal laboratory for Electronic Warfare testing. I'd guess about 50 people attended. Someone from the PDN was there (I don't know who he was); supposedly the PDN will do a story on the meeting and the information presented. We'll see...
The three main speakers were Ron Richards, Ken Pickard of Citizens of Ebeys Reserve, and, sorry to say, I didn't catch the 3rd speaker's name. He's a local teacher; I think Rod was his first name. (Sorry...)
I was already against the Navy's proposed huge increase in low-flying jets and Electronic Warfare testing, based on the scant "coverage" provided by the PDN. But last night's presentation was so alarming, I don't know where to begin. So instead of trying to paraphrase, here are a few links:
Citizens of Ebeys Reserve
West Coast Action Alliance
Protect Olympic Peninsula
Be Very Afraid.
The three main speakers were Ron Richards, Ken Pickard of Citizens of Ebeys Reserve, and, sorry to say, I didn't catch the 3rd speaker's name. He's a local teacher; I think Rod was his first name. (Sorry...)
I was already against the Navy's proposed huge increase in low-flying jets and Electronic Warfare testing, based on the scant "coverage" provided by the PDN. But last night's presentation was so alarming, I don't know where to begin. So instead of trying to paraphrase, here are a few links:
Citizens of Ebeys Reserve
West Coast Action Alliance
Protect Olympic Peninsula
Be Very Afraid.
posted by Tom Harper at 4:51 PM
9 Comments:
Carry on, goddamnit.
This is a horribly scary scenario. Most of us know how pristine and beautiful Olympic National Park is, but many may not know that it has several special honors, for a completely self-contained ecosystem, and as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Both of these honors will go away if the Park becomes a Naval Warfare Testing Ground.
The Navy has perfect sites for this training already in use in Idaho, in a non-populated, desert area. No people or wildlife to harm. Their excuse for wanting to move their range to our backyard is so that their pilots can have 1.5 hours per day longer at home with their families. What about OUR families? This will devastate our quality of life, and our property values.
We need to speak up and stop this.
I'm going to write letters to all of our elected officials (Cantwell, Murray, Inslee, Kilmer) and to Congress and the EPA. We can't let them ram this through.
I don't want to live in a country which is completely run by the military. We have to tell them it's not acceptable.
Aw, fuck it. It's only Clallam County. Who cares? The locals have been destroying it for decades. So now it's the Navy's turn. Who cares?
No, really. Who...cares? No one in the outside world gives a small fart for Port Angeles or Clallam County. If you're foolish enough to live in Clallam County, you get what you deserve.
Bombs away!
anon 8:35: It's not "only Clallam County." Jefferson County, Grays Harbor County, all of Olympic Park, the whole Pacific coast of Washington, do you hate all of it? Please seek the help you need.
The "people" of government always trump the people. After all, what are you going to do about it anyway.
Do include the Navys' proposal to turn the Port Angeles harbor into a support facility for their submarines, too.
But, I think we should take a look in the mirror, and take a hard look at what America is. America has been a war in some place or another for 200 some odd years. We are the worlds' top weapons seller. We have military presence in 150 of the worlds' 198 countries. We have a greater percentage of our population in jails than any other country.
So, what does that look like, to you?
Anon 6:52 says:"I don't want to live in a country which is completely run by the military."
Really? Then what are you actually going to do about it?
What am I going to do about it?
Enjoy the Texas sun and drink some beer, maybe shoot some rattle snakes.
Leave the rattlesnakes alone. They have a right to live, too. Just because you're scared of them, doesn't mean they deserve to be killed.
I used to have a 5 gallon bucket and a stick set aside specifically to nudge the rattlers I came across around the house and nearby into. Then I carried the bucket to a stone wall full of field mice a distance away, and dump the rattler at the base of the wall. Everybody was happy. Except the mice, I guess.
But, our country is in the trouble it is in, because people stopped being involved in government. People talk a good line about not taking any shit from anybody, but when it comes to doing much of anything, most do nothing.
As a result, things are pretty bad, and getting worse. In other countries, people stop work, go out in the streets en masse, and demand changes. No changes, country grinds to a standstill until action is taken.
But, in the "land of the free", we're too scared and lazy to do anything, and the "special interests" who have money to make from creating policies that benefit them, blaze away.
@ 11:21 AM: I've been married five times, what makes you think I would be afraid of rattle snakes? :-)
They make nice head bands....
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