| Say what??? Assistant Secretary
of the Navy B.J. Penn says that because the aircraft are home-based
elsewhere, their impact here doesn't count. How much sense does
that make? Details are in the following article from the December
29 Key West Citizen: |
Navy: Legal requirements met for jets
County leader seeks suspension
of Super Hornet training
BY TIMOTHY O’HARA
Citizen Staff
An assistant secretary of the Navy is satisfied the Navy
conducted all studies required by law in 2003 before allowing
F/A-18 fighter jets to train regularly at the Boca Chica
airfield, dismissing a request by a Florida Keys group and its
attorney for more studies and a review of the aircraft.
Environmental attorney Richard Grosso, who represents the
Florida Keys Citizens Coalition, last month sent a letter to
Assistant Secretary for Navy Installations and Environment B.J.
Penn, asking him to review the Navy’s study on F/A-18 Super
Hornets training at Naval Air Station Key West.
Grosso, who wrote the letter on behalf of the coalition and Key
Largo resident John Hammerstrom, contends the Navy’s review was
not specific enough to satisfy the concerns of people who live
around the military installation, and the creation of the base’s
flight maps were done with software that does not accurately
project the jets’ noise levels.
In Penn’s response, he states the Navy complied with the
National Environmental Policy Act and used the “most accurate”
and Department of Defense-approved software for creating the
flight maps, which are known as Air Installation Compatible Use
Zones, or AICUZ.
Monroe County Commissioner Sylvia Murphy on Friday sent an
e-mail to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson asking for his help in
suspending Super Hornet flights “until a proper and legal
Environmental Impact Statement can be performed.”
“I feel that it is inexcusable for Monroe County to allow its
itizens to be treated in this manner,” Murphy said. “We would be
remiss as public servants should we allow this harmful treatment
to continue to be inflicted upon the very people we are sworn to
protect.
The introduction of an aircraft emitting almost four times the
noise of its predecessor, into a neighborhood, has the potential
to have significant environmental impacts to surrounding
communities.”
The Navy completed an “environmental assessment” for Fleet
Support and Infrastructure Improvements in 2003, which stated
there was “no significant mpact” to “off-base noise exposure.”
The Navy did not do a more thorough and Lower Keys-specific
“environmental impact statement” because the Super Hornets train
at Boca Chica but are based elsewhere, according to a letter
Penn wrote to Grosso, which Naval Air Station Key West base
spokesman Jim Brooks released Friday. The planes were engaged in
some training over the Lower Keys as early as 2002, Brooks said.
“The state of Florida, local government and the U.S. Navy
continue to work closely together to ensure the health, safety
and welfare of our citizens and visitors while preventing
incompatible land-use and unintended consequences from transient
aircraft operations at NAS Key West,” Penn wrote. “The Navy
takes seriously its environmental protection responsibilities as
well as the public’s perception of how well those
responsibilities are met.
We can assure you that in our continuing operations at NAS Key
West, thoughtful consideration of impacts from our aircraft
operations will continue to be emphasized.”
Grosso had asked the Navy to back up that assertion with
documentation. However, Penn’s 1 1/2-page letter does not
provide any back-up documentation.
“I was particularly disappointed that Assistant Secretary Penn
failed to explain how it is possible for a much louder airplane,
flying more operations to cause no impact,” Hammerstrom wrote in
an e-mail to The Citizen on Friday. “The Navy claims that their
obligation to evaluate the impact of the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet
is satisfied by their April 14, 2003, ‘Finding of No Significant
Impact’ letter. The Navy has refused to explain how that could
possibly be true, since the document does not even mention the
airplane.”
Hammerstrom and Murphy took issue with Penn’s statement that the
Navy has complied with National Environmental Policy Act
requirements because the planes are not based in Key West.
“It is insulting to those who live with the greater noise of the
Super Hornet to imply that the impact is dependent on where the
airplane parks,” Hammerstrom said. “Those most unfairly affected
by the Navy’s failure to recognize the significantly louder
noise levels that have resulted from the Navy’s replacement of
the F14 [Tomcat] with the F/A-18 E/F [Super Hornet] are those
folks who, in good conscience, purchased property outside of the
published noise zones and now find themselves effectively inside
of the noise zones because of the much greater noise levels.”
Hammerstrom has sent similar requests for further review to the
Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense
Office of Inspector General.
Penn’s letter, which calls for compatible development around the
base, comes as the county has given the go-ahead for two more
residential developments within the AICUZ noise zones. The
commission, on Dec. 19, approved a project that calls for
Habitat for Humanity to build 10 to 12 units of affordable
housing off
U.S. 1 on Big Coppitt Key.
The commission also gave county Land Authority Director Mark
Rosch direction to look into acquiring one acre on Big Coppitt
Key so that Old Town Key West Development Group can build 23
homes for working families. The Navy objected to both projects,
citing concerns about jet noise.
“If you build this development, there will be residents in yards
that will not be able to hear each other speak when jets are
flying,” Key West Naval Air Station Executive Director Ron Demes
said of the Habitat for Humanity project. “There will be
residents that will not be able to hear televisions inside their
homes.”
The Planning Board next month will review the AICUZ issue and
determine whether the county needs to adopt them as part of its
future land-use regulations.
tohara@keysnews.com |
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