PORT TOWNSEND — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a Kitsap County peace activist’s lawsuit against the U.S. Navy that seeks documents related to Naval Magazine Indian Island.
The lawsuit seeks documents that Glen Scott Milner said could shed light on safety risks for East Jefferson County’s civilian population possibly posed by explosives stored at the base, which is about two miles from downtown Port Townsend.
Milner, a member of Poulsbo-based Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, recently heard through his Seattle attorney, David Mann, that the court had agreed to hear the case.
Mann is preparing a brief to present to the high court by Aug. 12, Milner said.
“Only about 1 percent to 1 ½ percent of the cases are actually heard,” Milner said Wednesday.
“The case has become a big deal among open government circles,” he added, saying that the “High 2 exemption” has been cited to allow Navy officials to keep documents secret to protect national security.
A Navy Region Northwest spokeswoman who represents Naval Magazine Indian Island declined to comment Wednesday.
“Because it’s in litigation, it’s not appropriate for the Navy to comment,” Sheila Murray said.
“It’s not a Navy issue anymore. It’s between Mr. Milner and the Supreme Court.”
Milner has sought and secured documents from the Navy regarding explosives stored at Submarine Base Bangor since the late 1990s, and from Naval Magazine Indian since 2003.
The documents he seeks now concern additional “Explosive Safety Quantity Distance” arc data.
ESQD calculations measure the effects of an explosion at a particular location.
The information is expressed either as a mathematical formula or as an arc map, where the center of the arc is the source of an explosion and the arc’s periphery is the maximum area over which the force of the explosion would reach.
Navy: No risk
Naval Magazine Indian Island leaders have said that explosives at the base pose no risk to Port Townsend, Kala Point, Port Hadlock or Marrowstone Island because safety precautions are taken when handling and moving weapons and ordnance.
Milner said that, because of the closures of weapons storage bases in California during the past 10 years, Naval Magazine Indian Island has become the military’s most strategically important weapons station on the West Coast, handling bombs, bullets, missiles, mines and torpedoes.
In arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Milner said he was very disappointed by the statement made by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Winn on behalf of the Navy.
“If you want to start a chain reaction, you can target your attack in such a way that you will not only hit that particular storage depot, but you will create exactly the type of catastrophe, through a chain reaction, that we are all seeking to avoid,” Winn said.
If true, Milner said, “What federal judge would order the release of this type of information?”
81 arc maps
Winn said the fight is over 81 arc maps for individual sites.
Milner has filed for release of at least 1,000 document under the Freedom of Information Act.
“The Navy cannot have this issue both ways — ESQD arcs are for safety, not to start a chain reaction at the base,” Milner said.
“Either the base is safe as established by the use of ESQD arc guidelines or something is wrong at Indian Island,” he added.
“If the comment on the chain reaction is true, then the danger to the public is much greater than ever presented by the Navy.”
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington originally rejected the lawsuit.
A split three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2009 affirmed, allowing the government to keep those 81 documents confidential under the national security exemption.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.