newsobserver.com projects - Amendment would bar OLF - Comments

Can't wait for Rick Martinez to slam Jones

James_Protzman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:58:01 -0400

for being the unpatriotic, misguided communist that he MUST be for opposing the free-flying of Navy jets across any part of North Carolina they darn well please.

Come on, Rick. Put that hair shirt back on again. It suits you.

Re: Amendment would bar OLF

Janetsmith — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:55:42 -0400

Thank you Congressman Jones.

The Navy and Virginia Beach tried to slip the OLF in as a pork barrel project totally to serve the interests of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake developers under the FEIS without demonstrating a need. They believed nobody was paying attention. Even in the FEIS the Navy stated the OLF was not needed, yet here we are under two years of a study that is not justified.

Again, thank you for all that you do for our military families. You are a man of integrity.

Amendment would bar OLF

bniolet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:37:53 -0400

The Navy could be prohibited from building an isolated landing strip for its Oceana Naval Air Station fighter jets at the Hales Lake and Sandbanks sites that are now under consideration by the Navy.

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Farmville Republican, included an amendment prohibiting that site for an outlying landing field in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act approved Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee, Barb Barrett reports. U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, also helped with the amendment.

"The people of eastern North Carolina have spoken loud and clear on this issue," Jones said in a statement. “If the OLF is needed to support F/A-18’s operating out of Oceana Naval Air Station, then Virginia should bear the burden."

The Navy has been trying several years to find a rural spot in eastern North Carolina to practice nighttime landings, but has been blocked by lawsuits and Tar Heel state politicians.

The Hales Lake site is in Camden County; the Sandbanks site is in Gates County.
The bill must still go to the full House, and then to the Senate for approval.