EDITOR’S NOTE — The stories below were published earlier this week. You can read previous stories (with bloggers’ comments) on the Navy’s plans in our news archives at www.peninsuladailynews.com (search “electronic warfare”).
FORKS — The deadline has been extended to Oct. 31 for public comment on the U.S. Navy’s environmental assessment for an electronic warfare training proposal.
The development comes as the U.S. Forest Service considers issuing a special-use permit for the Navy to use its roads during the exercises.
“We are going to extend comment through the end of October,” Greg Wahl, a Forest Service environmental coordinator, said Wednesday.
Comment on the Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range project’s environmental assessment was set to end Friday, but with a community meeting on the topic coming next week, the decision was made to extend the deadline.
The meeting, organized by the Forks Chamber of Commerce, is planned for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Forks High School commons, 261 S. Spartan Ave.
Representatives of the Navy and Forest Service will answer questions from the public.
$11.5 million project
The $11.5 million warfare training project would mark the first use of electromagnetic radiation for the Navy training that pilots now simulate with internal aircraft controls.
The exercises would be conducted by training aircraft from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island that would target electromagnetic radiation from emitters affixed to up to three camper-sized vehicles deployed in Clallam, Jefferson and Grays Harbor counties.
The Navy has said exposure to the electromagnetic radiation of 15 minutes or more could damage the liquid tissue of the eyes, but Navy personnel say measures taken to protect the public and animals will make it safe.
The Navy has also said the emitters would be at least 14 feet above the ground, and risk to animals or humans would only occur if they are in the direct path of the signal, above the emitter and within 100 feet.
The Navy’s environmental assessment for the project, which found no significant impact, can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.
Public comments can be emailed to Wahl at gtwahl@fs.fed.us or sent to Wahl at 1835 Black Lake Blvd. S.W., Olympia, WA 98512.
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FORKS — Community concerns over the Navy’s electronic warfare training proposal have prompted a meeting next week to answer questions as the U.S. Forest Service considers issuing a permit for the project.
The meeting, organized by the Forks Chamber of Commerce, is planned for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Forks High School commons, 261 S. Spartan Ave.
“This is a meeting for the Navy, Forest Service and the community,” said Lissy Andros, chamber executive director, Tuesday.
The Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range project would mark the first use of electromagnetic radiation for the Navy training that pilots now simulate with internal aircraft controls.
The Navy has said exposure of 15 minutes or more could cause damage to the liquid tissue of the eyes, but Navy personnel say measures taken to protect the public and animals will make it safe.
Comment is being accepted through Friday on the Navy’s environmental assessment for the project, which can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.
“We asked that the comment period be extended to [Oct. 31], and I am hoping that would be the case,” Andros said.
She said she expects to hear from the Forest Service today on whether the comment period will be extended.
Andros said the chamber is facilitating the meeting to allow residents to ask questions.
“Then once people are more informed, then they can make more informed comments with the Forest Service so the Forest Service can really decide if it should issue this permit,” she said.
Both Navy and Forest Service representatives have confirmed they will attend the meeting.
The exercises would be conducted by training aircraft from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island that would target electromagnetic radiation from emitters affixed to up to three camper-sized vehicles deployed in Clallam, Jefferson and Grays Harbor counties.
The trucks would be dispersed on 15 sites reached by Forest Service roads, and the use of these roads requires a special permit from the Forest Service.
The Navy’s environmental assessment for the project found no significant impact from the $11.5 million warfare training project, planned to be operational on the West End by September 2015.
Dean Millett, district ranger for the Pacific District of Olympic National Forest, issued a draft notice of a decision in September in which he had agreed with the Navy’s finding of no significant impact, clearing the way for the Forest Service permit.
Millett canceled the decision late last month and reopened public comment because of “renewed interest . . . from members of the public who were unaware of the proposal,” notice of which was not published in North Olympic Peninsula newspapers.
Liane Nakahara, Navy public affairs specialist, said Tuesday that since the Navy’s proposal would see construction work — the installation of a fixed electronic emitter — only at its property in Pacific Beach, publications in that area were the ones used in advertising the project.
Advertisements were published in The Seattle Times, The Daily World, The Olympian and The Montesano Vidette.
Capt. Mike Nortier of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island said in a statement issued Friday that the training would not involve weapons.
“The emitters used in the training send a radar or communications signal that the aircraft will then detect and process,” he said.
“Training with the emitters will enable air crews to detect and identify the kind of electronic signals they might encounter flying in hostile territory.”
Nortier characterized the frequencies to be used in the exercise as “similar to those used for satellite communications, some Wi-Fi devices, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices and weather radar systems.”
Nortier said the pair of emitters used on each truck would have a power output “similar to microwave emitters used by some television or sporting event vans to broadcast signals to their parent stations” in one case, while “the other emitter is comparable to marine radar used on residential boats.”
Extended exposure to electromagnetic radiation could cause a health hazard, the Navy said in the environmental assessment.
Because of precautions taken, the range “will not harm people or animals,” Nortier said.
The emitters would be at least 14 feet above the ground, and “risk to animals or humans would only occur if they are in the direct path of the signal, above the emitter and within 100 feet, for an extended period of time.
“ . . . The Navy requires that crews shut down the emitters if a person or animal is within 100 feet of these vans when the systems are in use.”
The trucks when deployed will be ringed with warning tape of up to a 101-foot radius.
“There’s a misconception that there is potentially some hazard to the public when there really isn’t,” John Mosher, Northwest environmental program manager for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Tuesday.
The project would include installation of communications equipment at a 16th site located at an existing government communications facility on Octopus Mountain on state Department of Natural Resources land in western Clallam County.
Three of the mobile emitter sites would be about 10 miles northeast of Forks in Clallam County.
Six would be in Jefferson County within 10 miles of the Quinault Reservation, while another would be in Jefferson County 15 miles southeast of Forks and four would be in Grays Harbor County.
Written public comments should be submitted to Wahl at 1835 Black Lake Blvd. S.W., Olympia, WA 98512.
Public comments can be emailed to Wahl at gtwahl@fs.fed.us.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb contributed to this report.
