In response to pressure from Oregon residents and the state’s Congressional delegation, the Navy has agreed to extend the deadline for public review and comment on the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for expansion of its Northwest Weapons Training Range Complex (NWTRC) along the Pacific NW coast.
Planet Waves originally broke the story about the Navy’s plans two weeks ago Monday, and we have been following it since.
However, instead of a 60-day extension for public comment requested by Oregon’s congressmen, the Navy proposed to extend the deadline by only 30 days to March 11, 2009.
Last Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 Oregon’s congressional delegation sent a follow-up to its first letter to the Secretary of the Navy. The delegation again reiterated sixty days was needed for public review, and called the Navy on a lie. The full text follows, and italics and boldface are alterations made by Planet Waves, they’re not from the original text.
February 13, 2008
The Honorable Donald C. Winter
Secretary of the Navy
1000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-1000Dear Secretary Winter:
In our February 6 letter regarding the draft Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (EIS/OEIS) for the U.S. Navy’s expanded use of the Northwest Training Range Complex (NWTRC) off the Oregon coast we asked you to extend the public comment period and hold additional public meetings in Oregon.
On February 10, several Navy representatives, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Don Schregardus, gave our offices a briefing on the draft EIS/OEIS and answered a number of questions. Unfortunately, it appears that some of those answers contained inaccurate or incomplete information.