The Senate defeated Sen. Richard Burr’s amendment to prohibit the Navy from building its outlying landing field on two potential sites in Gates and Camden counties.
The amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan, went down on a voice vote in a nearly empty chamber, reports Barb Barrett. It would have been attached to the defense authorization bill now being debated.
Because both the Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, Sen. John McCain, and chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, opposed the amendment, it had little chance.
Still, Burr said in his remarks that he wanted to raise the issue of how important it is for the military to consider community concerns in locating training grounds.
Similar language survived the House of Representatives’ version of the bill earlier this summer.
And Burr said on the floor he hopes that the Gates and Camden counties’ sites will be protected when the House and Senate conference committee convenes to work out a final defense bill.
Coming up: excerpts from the remarks by Burr, McCain and Levin.
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Re: Senate defeats OLF amendment
Pembroke, Burr says the OLF estimates 52 jobs. Whether 10 or 52, the folks in Camden and Gates don't seem to want it in spite of your rosy assessment of the boon to the strip club industry.
I can understand why, given they share the lowest unemployment in the state with most of the outerbanks and have a combined population of under 15,000.
Why would 15,000 people want 30,000 square acres of their private land taken by the federal government in return for 30,000 square acres of pavement and a sonic boom reserve?
If you think it's such a boon to the local economy Pembroke, may I suggest carving out half of Robeson county for it? Your unemployment is twice theirs, and you have the population to support all the new pawn shops.
In actuality, the base should be in NC, but closer to a population center like Rocky Mount that can support it, which also moves it more inland away from the fragile outerbanks. Edgecomb County's unemployment is epic, plus that's literally halfway between Oceana and Cherry Point.