newswire article announcements oregon & cascadia environment | forest defense URGENT: Olympic Nat'l Forest at risk from USN "Electronic Warfare Range" PLEASE COMMENT as author: Rainbow The Olympic National Forest (and even greater areas of eastern Washington) are slated to be converted to be used as the "Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range" by the US Navy. The deadline to do something to save this precious fragile place is Oct. 10th. This is a big, permanent, expanding, military project that will change the Peninsula forever. The Forest Service can still say No. Please go to the link (US Forest Service) in the forwarded message below from nbeety and send a comment objecting. People were not informed the way they should have been, and most locals are still unaware of this. We should demand a much longer comment period and public forums for local inhabitants of the areas, including Native American reservations.



The "emitters" the Navy wants to deploy, some mobile and some permanent, surround the Quinalt Indian reservation and impinge on other Native American land.



In order to find inspiration for comment writing, I went through all the public comments that had been posted as of 10/5 at the Forest Service site (see links below) . This is very laborious and time-consuming, so in order to save others that trouble, I put a collection of them into one text file that you can see at

http://soula.org/files/OlympicForestComments.txt



Many creative people (including the Grays Harbor FIRE CHIEF) have made very good points worth reading.



Here is one little snippet:

>>

Olympic National Forest borders Olympic National Park, one of the

crown jewels of the planet in terms of unspoiled wilderness, and as

such, deserves a wide buffer from such tests which are unprecedented,

and therefore, cannot reasonably be known to be harmless.

>>



There is also a petition at Change.org (but it is not a substitute for

sending an official US Forest Service comment). There are over 500

petition signatures as of 10/6. If you read this petition, note

that it fails to mention the PERMANENT emitters that are to be built,

or the additional area in Eastern Washington (see attached PDF) that

is also to be militarized this way, as part of the new "Pacific

Northwest Electronic Warfare Range."

Petition: http://tinyurl.com/PNEWarfareRange

--> Read Sandra Storwick's comment



Here is something from the Forks Forum: http://www.forksforum.com/opinion/277005121.html



Please spread the word asap.





---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: nbeety

Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Subject: [wran] EMF weapons in Olympic Nat'l Forest update and alert -- please post

To: wran@lists.riseup.net



Please post and distribute widely including to environmental groups. The Olympic National Forest is a national and world treasure. -- N. Beety.



Olympic National Forest designated as Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range by US Navy; exercises planned if Forest Service approves -- alert and update:



The Navy plans EMF weapons exercises in the Olympic National Forest in Washington State beginning next year. The US Forest Service issued a draft approval finding "no significant impact."



However, the Forest District Manager Dean Millett cancelled his decision (Environmental Assessment) on September 26 and re-opened the Public Comment period. That Public Comment period ends October 10.



All the documents are here

http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare



To have standing to make an objection later during the objection period, you must submit a comment now. The objection period will take place after the public comment period closes and District Manager Millett re-issues a decision.



Project name is apparently



Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range Environmental Assessment (EA)



That must be in the subject line if sending comments by email.



Those wishing to provide input and have standing (eligibility) during the future Objection period for this project must be submitted to the project lead



Greg Wahl

1835 Black Lake Blvd SW,

Olympia, WA 98512.



If you have any questions regarding the details of this proposal or have comments,

please contact Greg Wahl at gtwahl@fs.fed.us [only for questions] or (360) 956-2375.



The office business hours for those submitting hand-delivered comments are: 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.



Those submitting electronic copies [of comments] must put the project name in the subject line, and must either submit comments as part of the e-mail message or as an attachment only in one of the following three formats: Microsoft Word, rich text format (rtf) or Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf), and can do so to the following e-mail address:



comments-pacificnorthwest-olympic-pacific@fs.fed.us



In cases where no identifiable name is attached to a comment, a verification of identity will be required for objection eligibility. If using an electronic message, a scanned signature is one way to provide verification. E-mails submitted to e-mail addresses other than the one listed above, in other formats than those listed, or containing viruses, will be rejected.



For more information and documents on this project, including the Draft Decision Notice (under "Decision"), the Final EA, and EA Public Notice Extension, Sept.26 (under "Supporting"):



http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare



Information on the extended comment period are under "Supporting".



Here are two informative articles on this from the Peninsula Daily News. Post comments on the most recent one below:



link to www.peninsuladailynews.com



link to www.peninsuladailynews.com





Excerpts from the first link:



The Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range project would entail the first use of electromagnetic radiation for the Navy training that pilots now simulate by internal aircraft controls.



Dean Millett, district ranger for the Pacific District of the Olympic National Forest, had issued a draft notice of a decision earlier this month in which he had agreed with the Navy's finding of no significant impact, clearing the way for a Forest Service special permit.



He canceled the decision Thursday 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.



Comment is being accepted through Oct. 10 on the environmental assessment, which is at

http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.



The purpose is to train to deny the enemy "all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation (i.e. electromagnetic energy) for use in such applications as communication systems, navigation systems and defense related systems and components," according to the environmental assessment.



Extended exposure to electromagnetic radiation _could cause a health hazard_, the Navy said in the environmental assessment (EA), available at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.



The emitters would operate on a radio frequency band from 4 to 8 gigahertz (GHz).



Navy officials _did not know the impact of the emissions on small animals_.



"There are no _conclusive_ direct hazards to human tissue as a result of electromagnetic radiation.



"Links to DNA fragmentation, leukemia, and cancer due to intermittent exposure to extremely high levels of electromagnetic radiation are speculative; study data are inconsistent and _insufficient at this time_," according to the assessment.



Crew members staffing the trucks would be protected by being under the tower, which is pointing the electromagnetic radiation upward, Sodano said.



>>

Fifteen minutes. That's the estimate of time it could take for "the liquid tissue" of the eye to be damaged by close proximity to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by three electronic warfare trucks the Navy wants to deploy in Clallam, Jefferson and Grays Harbor counties, Navy official Jerry Sodano said Friday.

>>



--> [? and they "do not know" if there will be an impact on small animals?]



The draft decision has been made by one person, Dean Millett, District Ranger for the Park. He decided to let the Navy proceed with their Alternative 2 is because "it meets the purpose and need of the project most effectively". This park ranger is deciding what is best for the Navy instead of what is best for the park.



Please comment and distribute this information widely. According to the press report, if the Forest Service says "No", the Navy can't use the Forest.



Questions? Contact Greg Wahl, Forest Environmental Coordinator

Email: gtwahl@fs.fed.us Telephone: 360-956-2375.



========

and finally, a comment from the peninsuladailynews article above:

Barbara Walberg · Works at Staying Happy



The fact that notices were published in newspapers outside the impacted areas & not published in the areas involved where residents NEED to be informed, is a huge red flag! It's obvious that something sneaky is going on here. I believe the environmental assessment is very flawed. I feel the impact this involves, may be much more than we are being led to believe. Why does this have to be done here on the peninsula? Why can't these exercises be conducted in safer areas on remote federal lands rather than putting all involved at risk here? I am interested in knowing where the Makah, Quileute, Hoh & Quinault Tribes stand on this issue & the impact involved on "their" peninsula. Yes, I said "their" peninsula, although it's been shared for years. "They" ARE the history of this beautiful land we all love. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD OF THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Many I've spoken to have no idea of this at all & people need to be informed, to unite & stand up for what's right. contribute to this article add comment to discussion discussion





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