PORT ANGELES — Four Navy and three U.S. Forest Service officiatls will answer questions on the Navy’s electronic warfare training plans during a public forum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight..
The meeting will be in City Council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St. in Port Angeles.
A similar community forum was held in Forks last month. It was attended by more than 100 persons.
(“West End residents line up to express worries to Navy over warfare range proposal” — https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20141017/news/310179956 ).
The Forest Service is considering a special-use permit for road use to allow access to vehicles that would be used in the Navy’s aerial electronic warfare training along the Pacific Coast and on the West End.
The vehicles would carry emitters that produce electromagnetic radiation that has been the focus of project critics.
The forum will include a 15- to 20-minute presentation by officials followed by a question-and-answer session.
City Public Works & Utilities Director Craig Fulton, who is coordinating the forum, said participants should focus on asking questions about the project instead of making general comments.
Questioners should limit the time they ask questions to about one minute, he said.
The forum will be moderated by Nancy Esteb of the Clallam County League of Women Voters.
Navy officials who will attend are John Mosher, U.S. Pacific Fleet Northwest environmental program manager; Kent Mathes, Northwest Training Range Complex program manager; Rick McArdle, Northwest Training Range Complex community planning liaison officer; and Liane Nakahara, Navy Region Northwest public affairs specialist.
The Forest Service officials present will be Dean Millett, Pacific Ranger District ranger; Greg Wahl, National Environmental Policy Act coordinator; and Donna Nemeth, public affairs officer.
$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 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.
Millett 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.
He canceled the decision in late September 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.
The Forest Service recently extended the deadline for comment for the special-use road permit from Oct. 31 to an as-yet-undetermined date in November.
Millett said the Forest Service has received “several hundred” comments about the project.
The environmental assessment for the project, which found no significant impact, can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.
Public comments can be emailed to Forest Service environmental coordinator Greg Wahl at gtwahl@fs.fed.us or sent to Wahl at 1835 Black Lake Blvd. S.W., Olympia, WA 98512.
