Navy hopes to dramatically increase Olympic Penninsula Overflights without public review.

RantWoman posts the following basically verbatim from email; RantWoman has NO TIME to edit into something tighter but hopes this material might reach people who have a leading and capacity to comment in an informed way.

RantWoman is responsible for the choice of headline:
NAVY hopes to dramatically increase Olympic Penninsula overflights withoutminimal  public comment or environmental review.

The official window for comments closes October 31. In a nutshell, the Navy plans to take large swaths of the Olympic National Forest and use them for its Northwest Electromagnetic Radiation Warfare training program. It already has a training area in Mountain Home, Idaho, but according to their environmental assessment, the justification for not flying the additional 400 miles to Idaho is the savings in jet fuel and the ability of personnel to spend more time with their families. In return for that, at least 36 new supersonic EA-18G "Growler" jets will fly directly over north Olympic Peninsula communities and cities for 260 days per year, to do 2,900 training exercises for 8-16 hours per day using 14 towers that emit enough electromagnetic radiation to melt eye tissue after brief exposure.
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> No public notices were published in any media serving the north Olympic Peninsula, which is why the Navy reported no public comments were received on its Environmental Assessment. It implied no public interest, but nothing could be further from the truth. Only one, poorly-advertised public meeting was held, in Forks, a drive of several hours from the more populous communities. The Navy, when asked, refused to schedule more public meetings, and it was only a public outcry that kept the comment period open for an extra two weeks, until October 31.
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> I'm just an ordinary citizen, unaffiliated with any organization, but I'm encouraging you to brush up on this and comment using the links below, and to share this with your friends and acquaintances who care about the environment and our quality of life in this beautiful corner of the world.
> Thanks.
> Karen Sullivan
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> A compendium of information on the Navy's proposed Northwest Electromagnetic Radiation Warfare training in Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park.
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> Included below are some news articles, videos and links to official government web sites concerning the Northwest Electromagnetic Radiation Warfare training area being proposed by the Navy and awaiting the final approval of the Forest Service for use of their roads. The physical location is in the National Forest immediately adjacent to the Olympic National Park, but also so close to private lands that concern is high for injury to people who may get too near the boundary. The potential harm to nonhuman species is largely unaddressed by the Navy's plans.  See maps in articles. Flights would originate from Whidbey Island and go directly over the North Olympic Peninsula cities to reach the West End. The San Juan Islands are also likely to see increased military activity in their skies. 36 jets will fly up to 2,900 training missions for 8-16 hours per day, for up to 260 days per year. They will coordinate with 14 radiation-emitting towers on the ground.
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> The gathering place for information if you're on Facebook: More than a thousand "likes" in a couple of days to this Facebook page that was set up after the Navy's lone meeting with the public in Forks, to cover this issue: https://www.facebook.com/protectolypen
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> If you are not on Facebook, here are some links.
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> The Navy's environmental assessment for the project: http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.
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> Deadline of October 31, 2014, for public comments-- email to Greg Wahl at gtwahl@fs.fed.us or sent to Wahl at 1835 Black Lake Blvd. S.W., Olympia, WA 98512
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> Rep. Derek Kilmer's email address for your comments:  WA06DKima@mail.house.gov
> Contact page for Derek Kilmer: https://kilmer.house.gov/contact/email-me
> Contact page for Sen. Maria Cantwell:  http://www.cantwell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-maria
> Contact page for Sen. Patty Murray:  http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
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> Recent news articles sketch out the issue: 
> Be sure to read the COMMENTS under each of these Peninsula Daily News articles:
> http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140928/NEWS/309289934/0/SEARCH
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> The better of the articles in PDN, this one goes into health effects:
> http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140926/NEWS/309269975/0/SEARCH
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> 10/16/14_Seattle Times_Front page above the fold:
> http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024799865_electronicwarfarexml.html
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> http://www.theolympian.com/2014/10/18/3376770_navy-plan-for-radar-detection.html?rh=1
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> Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (not endorsed by the Forest Service) page, with a photo of what the Navy's portable radiation emitters look like when fully arrayed:  http://fseee.org/index.php/ground-truth/sound-off/1003983-no-olympic-war-games
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> Letter from above organization opposing granting the Navy a special use permit for its electronic warfare program. It raises the issue of encroachment on private property:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz8MRyTv82TaUjhnMGhLd0g0bjVZU1otd2lsNlR5Y21rT0dF/preview?pli=1
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> US Forest Service's official NEPA documents and information page on the Navy's proposed Electronic Warfare training for the Olympic Peninsula:  https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public/CommentInput?Project=42759
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> Option "C," the no action alternative, is what we citizens are demanding. http://www.nature.nps.gov/protectingrestoring/DO12site/02_Ovrvu/027_alternatives.htm
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> Navy admits jet noise is a problem:  http://citizensofebeysreserve.com/blog/a-major-win-navy-admits-noise-problems-in-port-townsend-and-san-juan-islands/
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> Petition (as of Oct 24 there were more than 2200 signatures): : https://www.change.org/p/us-navy-do-not-put-any-camper-sized-trucks-with-electromagnetic-radiation-equipment-to-conduct-war-exercises-with-military-aircraft-from-15-sites-in-clallam-jefferson-and-grays-harbor-counties
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> Videos by Nancy Botta of comments and questions at the 10/14/14 meeting in Forks with the Forest Service and the Navy; these are very revealing of the Navy's attitude:
> http://vimeo.com/album/3091035
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> Other news articles:
> More jets for Whidbey/Noise for PT (no mention of warfare training in it)
> http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20141011/news/310119987/0/SEARCH
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> http://kuow.org/post/potential-navy-war-games-alarms-peninsula-residents#.VEBnCxBAPKA.facebook
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> http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20141008/NEWS/310089985?fb_comment_id=fbc_663391683767853_664262417014113_664262417014113#f29a646edc
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> First article done by Christi Barron:
> http://www.forksforum.com/opinion/277005121.html
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> World Health Organization (WHO) undertakes a health risk assessment of radio frequency and electromagnetic fields: http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/ch-03-rad-fields-inside-body-PC-2014-09-29.pdf?ua=1
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> American Academy of Environmental Medicine study on human health effects: http://aaemonline.org/emf_rf_position.html
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> Video: Nature study on the effects of electromagnetic radiation on bird migration: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LjTQAFdFF1c
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> Effects of aircraft overflights on national parks: https://archive.org/stream/reportoneffectso00nati/reportoneffectso00nati_djvu.txt
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