The comment period for the U.S. Navy plan to increase military training exercises off Washington, Oregon and Northern California, has been extended until Saturday, Oct. 24.
Congressman Mike Thompson spoke with the undersecretary of the Navy and the comment period on the NWTRC was extended, his office confirmed.
The NWTRC testing area includes 122,400 nautical miles of air, land (all the way to Idaho), the Pacific Ocean 288 miles out, and subsurface space for underwater weapons training exercises.
No training that involves live explosives is conducted within 3 nautical miles of shore, the final environmental impact statement promises.
The Navy is considering two options that expand upon its existing use of the area. Both increase the number of training exercises and include new weapons testing, including guided missile submarines.
The Navy”s preferred option also includes the development of a small scale underwater training minefield and use of the portable undersea tracking range.
The Navy formally granted extensions and delays to its process several times over the past three years (including a previous request in 2009 led by Thompson), to accommodate separate delay requests made in Oregon and Mendocino County.
The final Environmental Impact Statement, initially promised to be concluded in late 2009, finally arrived on Sept. 10, beginning a 30-day public comment period, which ended Oct. 12.
Mendocino County has been among the most vocal areas of the Pacific Northwest about the plan, despite the fact activities are concentrated around Seattle. In fact, the training range ends at the Humboldt-Mendocino County line. The final EIS clearly states that no part of Mendocino County is included in the final plan.
“Historically, as well as projected for the next five to ten years, training within 12 nautical miles seldom, if ever, occurs off the coast of Oregon and Northern California,” the final EIS states.
While the area can still be used for testing, the increased activities documented in the EIS concern training.
The Navy”s preferred alternative would increase missile firing during exercises from 10 fired per year to 57, while bomb dropping would increase from 108 to 144 per year. The Navy would increase the number of shells it fires, from 25,856 per year to 53,343.
With the last public meeting having been held 20 months ago, the late and voluminous final EIS is available for download at www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com and in paper form at the Eureka library.
Comments can also be mailed attention Kimberly Kler, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203, Silverdale, WA 98315-1101.
