PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council is sending a letter to the state’s U.S. senators asking them to block a measure that would restrict the public’s access to specific information about munitions stored on Naval Magazine Indian Island, which is about two miles from the city.
Deputy Mayor George Randels wrote the letter that was scheduled to be sent by email Thursday to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Bothell, as well as to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
“No one sends anything to Capitol Hill anymore through snail mail. It opens a whole new set of security problems,” said Randels, who worked as a congressional aide for several years.
The motion to send the letter was passed 5 to 1 with Mayor Michelle Sandoval not present and City Councilwoman Laurie Medlicott opposed.
“I support the right of people to have their opinions, but I think this issue is out of our purview,” Medlicott said.
“If anyone wants to express their position on this, I’m happy to give them a 44-cent stamp, but we shouldn’t be addressing this here.”
The full Senate is expected to vote soon on the matter.
The letter calls for the defeat of certain portions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.
The council approved the action Monday night in response to petitioners who requested the letter because they feel portions of the act curtail the public’s right to know about safety risks.
“Congress is now proposing to diminish the Freedom of Information Act and conceal information not only here, but all around the country,” said Cathy George, an attorney who spoke during the public comment period at the council meeting.
“People have a right to know what risks we face from this activity.”
The bill was passed by the House on May 26. Rep. Norm Dicks, who represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula, voted in favor of it.
It was moved out of the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 16 and is expected to face a full Senate vote this month.
Navy spokeswoman Sheila Murray declined to comment on the council’s action.
“It’s pending legislation, and it’s really not appropriate for the Navy to comment on pending legislation,” she said Wednesday.
The section of the huge military funding bill allows the Department of Defense to withhold “sensitive but unclassified information related to critical infrastructure or protected systems owned or operated by the Department of Defense that could substantially facilitate the effectiveness of an attack designed to destroy equipment, create maximum casualties or steal particularly sensitive military weapons including information regarding the securing and safeguarding of explosives, hazardous chemicals or pipelines.”
The 2.716-acre facility across Port Townsend Bay from the town is the only munitions storage and transfer depot on the West Coast for the Navy’s Pacific Fleet and handles non-nuclear bombs, including Tomahawk missiles, bullets, torpedoes, shells and other ordnance.
A citizens group gathered more than 400 signatures on a petition asking both the three Jefferson County commissioners and the Port Townsend City Council to weigh in on the matter, while admitting that local governing bodies have no jurisdiction in federal matters.
“This is about the right to know,” said Glen Milner.
“It is important that citizens understand the potential dangers to the community of these munitions.”
Milner, of Lake Forest, won a U.S. Supreme Court decision in February in which the court decided the Navy cannot use a particular exemption in the Freedom of Information Act to withhold explosives data and maps showing the extent of damage if there were an explosion at Naval Magazine Indian Island.
Milner urged local governments to make their voices heard in this matter.
The group presented its petitions to the county commissioners July 5 and the City Council on July 20.
The commissioners have taken no action on the matter, and none is now planned, County Administrator Philip Morley said.
After approving the action to send the letter, the council discussed some potential revisions to Randels’ draft, which was presented at the meeting.
Councilwoman Kris Nelson said she appreciated Randels’ effort to make the letter stand out but suggested that he tone down some of the more colorful phrases, such as saying the Navy’s position “smacks of paternalism” and that Indian Island was “two miles from Port Townsend as the seagull flies.”
“I understand that some of these people get 47 letters, and we want to find a way for them to notice us,” she said.
“But I think that it should be a little more serious.”
Randels, who was acquainted with Panetta when the current secretary of defense was a congressman, said there was a reason for the phrase.
“I don’t know Secretary Panetta well but believe that if that phrase was in the letter, it would make him smile,” Randels said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
