Easley staff helped Navy pick OLF sites he opposes

That was an interesting broadside Gov. Mike Easley leveled at Sen. Elizabeth Dole Wednesday evening about the OLF. The governor opposes new sites in Camden and Gates counties that the Navy may consider in where to put the outlying landing field. and urged the Navy to find more alternatives. Sen. Dole and Sen. Richard Burr responded that his call was not helpful in resolving the issue. Then Easley's office issued a statement that said “It is time for Elizabeth Dole to learn that she represents the people of North Carolina, including those counties.”
What the governor didn’t say is how those sites got on the Navy’s radar in the first place: His administration helped put them there. This past spring and summer, his Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Bill Ross, working with Easley’s staff and with environmentalist Tom Earnhardt, among others, scoured sites for the Navy, rounded up information and helped the Navy consider putting them on a list of final sites.
More on this later.