Final Arguments Heard in Case Against Navy Landing Field

Final arguments were heard today in U.S. District Court over the U.S. Navy’s plans to build a new Outlying Landing Field (OLF) in northeastern North Carolina. The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the National Audubon Society, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and Defenders of Wildlife and attorneys for Washington and Beaufort counties, have asked Judge Boyle to issue a permanent injunction barring the Navy from taking any actions to construct an OLF in Washington and Beaufort counties until the Navy complies with the National Environmental Policy Act.

“We heard nothing new from the Navy today. In nearly two hours of arguments the Navy was unable to show it ever took the required ‘hard look’ at the impacts the OLF would have on hundreds of thousands of waterfowl and instead ignored evidence, reversed its own criteria and violated the law,” said Derb Carter, SELC attorney. “We are confident that Judge Boyle will see this as the political decision that it is, and we will win the case.”

SELC contends that the decision to locate the OLF in the proposed location, five miles from the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, was a political one and that the Navy failed to perform an objective review of both the need for a new OLF and the environmental impacts of the project, as required by law. Instead, according to internal Navy documents, the Navy “fabricated” reasons why an existing OLF in Oceana, Virginia was inadequate and "reverse engineered" the selection process to justify constructing the OLF at the North Carolina location.

SELC's arguments are based on a review of nearly 200,000 Navy documents.

The proposed site near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, winter home to hundreds of thousands of swans, snow geese and other migratory birds, is known to represent a severe risk to low-flying aircraft and their pilots.

"The arguments heard in court back up what many of us have said for years now," said Chris Canfield, executive director of Audubon North Carolina. "This site just does not make sense for a landing field because of severe danger to pilots, damage to the refuge, and devastation to a whole community. The Navy needs to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and find a new, workable location."

Last April, Judge Boyle granted a preliminary injunction stopping work on the proposed Navy jet landing field near the prime wintering grounds for migrating snow geese and tundra swans. The Navy appealed Boyle's decision on the issue of the preliminary injunction to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which plans on hearing arguments on this appeal in early February. On January 3, the Court of Appeals granted the Navy’s request to “stay” the preliminary injunction until the appeal is decided. In the meantime, the Navy acquired an additional 1,500 acres needed for the runway through condemnation action filed on Friday.

In 2003, the Navy announced their plan to base new squadrons of Super Hornet jets at bases in Virginia and North Carolina, and to share training runs at the proposed new field, which lies in between. Pilots would use the field to practice landing on aircraft carriers. The plaintiff groups, along with dozens of other conservation organizations, federal and state wildlife agencies, political leaders and community groups, have consistently objected to the location as destructive to the environment and dangerous for pilots.