AG Cooper joins fight against OLF in N.C.

AG Cooper joins fight against OLF in N.C.

Reinforcing the adage that it's never too late to do the right thing, N.C. Attorney General Cooper, a Democrat, has backed U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican, in opposition to the Navy placing an outlying landing field in northeastern North Carolina. In a news release today Cooper's office said it would be difficult for the Navy to operate an OLF in this state because the state has reclaimed concurrent jurisdiction of land the Navy was eyeballing for a practice jet landing field. The General Assembly, which long ago ceded jurisdiction to the federal government for military bases, reclaimed jurisdiction in a recent legislative action, and Cooper's staff says the state will enforce that legislation.

Here's part of a news release the firm of French/West/Vaughan(not the N.C. Department of Justice, as this post originally said) put out today:

In a letter made public today, the North Carolina Department of Justice announced it will support northeastern North Carolinians in their fight against the Navy’s proposed Outlying Landing Field (OLF).

Sent to Rep. Walter Jones, R-Farmville, the department made clear it would enforce legislation by which N.C. retains concurrent jurisdiction of lands seized for an OLF in counties that do not have existing military bases. Sharing jurisdiction would allow those counties and the state to subject the Navy to a number of laws, including noise ordinances.

“Without full jurisdiction over property acquired for an OLF, it appears that the Navy would have difficulty in operating a military base,” wrote Chief Deputy Attorney General Grayson Kelley. “The Attorney General’s office will therefore continue to carefully monitor all legal issues related to the OLF siting process and be prepared to act as necessary to protect the economy and environment of eastern North Carolina.”

“I am grateful to Attorney General Roy Cooper for his commitment to protect the economic and environmental interests of Eastern North Carolina,” commented Rep. Jones. “I will continue to push for the removal of Hale’s Lake from the list of sites under consideration for the Navy’s Outlying Landing Field.”

"An amendment introduced by Jones and adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives, would prohibit the creation of an OLF at either the Hale’s Lake site in Camden County or the Sandbanks site in Gates County. Included within the annual National Defense Authorization Act, the provision will be debated in conference committee when Congress convenes from recess."

For years the Navy tried to site an OLF in Washington County near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, a proposal that turned out to be untenable because of the danger of collisions with large migratory waterfowl. At first only local residents, environmentalists and outdoors enthusiasts opposed it while politicians stayed away from the issue.

But in time a growing number of officeholders, including U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole and later Gov. Mike Easley, formally opposed it.

The Navy abandoned the Washington County site but has been looking at several other N.C. sites not far from the Virginia border.