Virginia may not want OLF, either

It's beginning to look as though legislators in the Commonwealth of
Virginia may also take action to oppose the Navy's plans to put a practice
jet landing field (the much-maligned Outlying Landing Field that many
North Carolinians fought so hard in recent years)in the tidewater area of
Virginia. The Navy is looking at sites in northeastern N.C. as well as
Virginia.

Doris Morris, one of the organizers of the effort in N.C. to persuade the
Navy that the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge was the wrong place
to build a landing field that would put large migratory waterfowl and Super
Hornet jets in the same airspace, sends along a story from the Tidewater
News in southeast Virginia that the legislature is considering a bill to
stop the Navy from putting the OLF in the tidewater area. The proposal is
somewhat similar to legislation the NC General Assembly has adopted.

Written by Sarah Sonies of the Capital News Service, here's an excerpt:


"RICHMOND — State legislators are considering a bill that could block the
U.S. Navy from building an outlying landing field in the Tidewater area.
Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Fred M. Quayle, R-Suffolk, would require
the Navy to get approval from the General Assembly before acquiring
property for an OLF.

"'There have been some designated potential sites for Outlying Landing
Fields,' Quayle said. 'The citizens almost unanimously don’t want them,
and they don’t bring any economic development; they are simply taking
property off the tax holders.'

"Quayle said the bill would ensure the federal government must take an
additional step before locating an OLF in a county that does not have a
military air base.

"SB 6 would 'require approval by the General Assembly before the United
States acquires property for an outlying landing field in localities that
have no current military base at which aircraft squadrons are stationed.'
Currently, the federal government has conditional consent to acquire land
required for needed public buildings in Virginia."