Mendocino County supervisors are working on a coastal feed of a video conversation with a representative of the U.S. Navy about plans to increase weapons testing in the ocean, KZYX and Z radio reported this week.
That was the latest word on a process that has been hampered by numerous communication problems.
Congressman Mike Thompson”s office told this reporter last week that the Navy would send a representative to a Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting.
But on Tuesday, Navy spokesman John Mosher told KZYX and Z news that there were no plans to send anyone to talk to the supervisors. By mid-day Tuesday, the Navy had offered county supervisors not an in-person visit but a teleconference meeting late next Tuesday afternoon.
Supervisor John McCowen told the radio station that two teleconference sites would be planned for Tuesday, March 31, inland in the Board of Supervisors” chamber and somewhere on the coast, where the Navy spokesman would answer questions.
No time or coastal location had been set for the March 31 teleconference by presstime, but McCowen said it would be either 4 or 5 p.m.
The Navy has prepared more than 1,000 pages of information about its plans to expand testing in an area from Washington state to south of the Humboldt/Mendocino line, including use of aerial drones, experimental new sonar buoys and underwater explosions.
The Northwest Training Range Complex Environmental Impact Statement is found at www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com.
The website contains an audio and movie presentation designed to explain why the training is needed by all branches of the service and how the Navy seeks to be a good steward of the environment.
Controversy has erupted over a process that features little or no press notice and very little communication with members of Congress or local governments.
In response, the Navy has extended the deadline for public comments several times, with the deadline now set at April 11.
But many questions remain. While the environmental impact statement states that the Navy has been using the area for training since World War I, there is very little information about what was going on in the past, and where.
The lack of past information makes for difficulty in assessing how “new” activities might present new impacts on whales, fish, currents and the ocean ecosystem.
The executive summary at the beginning of the document lacks other crucial details, such as the location of the southern boundary of the testing area. A map with a dotted line that appears to come ashore somewhere in the vicinity of Shelter Cove is the only clue.
The document does not mention how the Navy might cooperate with other branches of the service, although the presentation the website states all branches of the service can use the area.
The test area includes a land mass that covers most of the state of Washington.
The environmental impact statement also does not state how the Navy will share information it learns about the ocean with other federal agencies or the general public.
Electronic comments can be submitted using a form on the website. Mailed commenters are asked to use the same form, which can be downloaded, printed and sent to: Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203, Silverdale, WA 98315-1101, ATTN: Mrs. Kimberly Kler — NWTRC EIS.
