Senate committee rejects anti-OLF measure

Hagan, Burr eye other methods of blocking measure

By Jennifer Preyss
Staff Writer

Friday, July 03, 2009

The US Navy’s study of Camden and Gates counties for an outlying landing field is still very much alive after a US Senate committee balked at including a measure barring the airfield from the counties in a defense authorization bill.

The Senate Armed Services Committee overwhelmingly voted 18-6 Friday against including a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prohibited the Navy from considering sites in the two counties for the OLF.

U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C. and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., co-sponsored an amendment to the defense bill that effectively would have ended northeastern North Carolina’s fight to keep the OLF out of the region.

Aides to the senators say the amendment, introduced by Burr, matched exactly an amendment attached to the defense authorization bill in the House by U.S. Rep. Walter Jones. Jones’ amendment passed both the House Armed Services Committee and later the full House by a vote of 389-22.

Camden Board of Commissioners Chairman Phil Faison said Wednesday he was surprised by the measure’s failure in the Senate.

“I’m very surprised it failed because it passed with such a large majority in the House,” he said.

David Ward, Burr’s press secretary, said even though the amendment failed in the Senate, Burr isn’t giving up on keeping the OLF out of Camden and Gates.

“He’s looking to reintroduce the language on the Senate floor. ... He is taking the lead on this issue,” Ward said.

The full Senate could vote on Burr’s amendment in coming weeks, he said.

Aides to Hagan say the senator is also working on ways to keep the airfield out of the region.

Stephanie Allen, Hagan’s communications director, said once Hagan learned Burr’s amendment didn’t have the votes needed to pass the Armed Services Committee, she approached Virginia U.S. Sen, Jim Webb, who also was planning to introduce an OLF amendment to the defense authorization bill. Hagan proposed Webb rewrite his amendment to be more sensitive to North Carolina’s position on the OLF, Allen said.

“Sen. Webb ... had an amendment that had the votes to pass. It was going pass no matter what,” she said.

Webb’s original amendment would have allowed the Navy to conclude its environmental impact statement on the five sites — two in North Carolina and three in Virginia — currently being studied for the OLF and then have the Navy secretary select a preferred site for the airfield.

“(The original amendment) obviously would have been to the detriment of North Carolina,” a Hagan aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

According to the new language in Webb’s amendment, the Navy is required to provide the Armed Services Committee with a detailed report of its conversations about the OLF with communities in North Carolina and Virginia. That report is supposed to include whether individuals supported or opposed putting the airfield in their county.

Webb’s amendment also requires the Navy to study all suitable sites for the OLF and obligates Navy officials to examine other alternatives such as building an OLF near Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Craven County.

One reason the Navy has argued that it cannot build an OLF near Cherry Point is its current policy requiring practice landing fields to be no more than 120 nautical miles from the primary base that uses them. Marine Air Station Cherry Point is 135 nautical miles from Naval Air Station Oceana, the primary base that would use the OLF.

Allen said Hagan plans to meet with Navy Rear Admiral David Anderson in the next two weeks to discuss possible changes to the Navy’s policy on OLFs. She pointed out that the distance between Cherry Point and Oceana is only about 16.1 miles more than the current policy allows, and is the equivalent of roughly seven minutes of flying time.

Hagan also plans to encourage Navy officials to seek alternative locations for the OLF that have a better chance of gaining support from North Carolinians, Allen said.

Because the House and Senate Armed Service Committees have approved differing versions of the defense authorization bill, a conference of senators will have to resolve the differences before the legislation receives final approval.