FORKS — A plan to conduct electronic warfare training along the Pacific Coast and on the West End brought out more than 100 area residents for a community meeting with officials from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Forest Service.
More than two dozen residents at the Tuesday night gathering expressed their environmental and safety concerns with the Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range proposal, which calls for using one fixed and three mobile electronic emitters to help train aviators from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in electronic warfare.
The fixed emitter will be located at the Navy base in Pacific Beach, with the mobile units — attached to camper-sized vehicles — setting up on 15 sites on U.S. Forest Service land in Clallam, Jefferson and Grays Harbor counties.
Many of the sites are located near Forks.
The Navy has asked the Forest Service for access to the sites via Forest Service roads.
The Forest Service is considering issuing a special-use permit to the Navy for road use.
It has extended until Oct. 31 its permit comment period based on the Navy’s environmental assessment.
John Mosher, the U.S. Pacific Fleet Northwest environmental program manager, opened the meeting with an apology, saying the Navy had failed to provide sufficient public notice to those on the West End.
He said the Navy was unconcerned about public response to the $11.5 million project in the West End “because the program is anticipated to have very little impact.”
“Quite honestly, there are no threats to the public safety,” he said.
Mosher described the program to those in attendance, saying modern warfare requires a heavy reliance on electronic assets.
“We want to be able to use the electromagnetic spectrum, and we want our enemies to not be able to use it,” he said.
That requires the use of the Prowlers and Growlers, aircraft based at NAS Whidbey Island, he said, along with crews trained to locate and identify sources of electromagnetic emissions and determine “if they are a threat.”
In a theater of war, when a communications or radar signal is located and determined to be a threat, we “jam it, avoid it or attack it,” he said.
Mosher said that while it seems like a fairly easy task to accomplish, it isn’t, and that means extensive training is required.
“It’s a critical part of how we conduct military operations these days,” Mosher said.
He said the methods that are included in the planned training sorties are the same as those used in recent bombing runs in Syria and Iraq.
The plan would utilize the Pacific Northwest Military Operating Area, which includes hundreds of miles of airspace above the state’s Pacific Coast and offshore areas.
Mosher said using the area for electronic warfare training makes both logistical and financial sense, given its proximity to the Whidbey Island base where the Navy’s entire fleet of electronic warfare jets is housed.
He repeatedly said the amount of electromagnetic radiation produced by the program would be minimal, noting that the transmitters would produce much less energy than “the cellphone tower in the middle of your town.”
The Navy has said the frequencies used by the emitters are similar to those used for satellite communications, some Wi-Fi devices, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices and weather radar systems.
The directional transmitters will be pointed upward and will be turned on only intermittently, Mosher said.
The Navy has said exposure to the electromagnetic radiation of 15 minutes or more could damage the liquid tissue of the eyes, but Navy personnel say measures taken to protect the public and animals will make it safe.
The Navy has also said the emitters would be at least 14 feet above the ground, and risk to animals or humans would occur only if they are in the direct path of the signal, above the emitter and within 100 feet.
Mosher’s comments regarding the safety of the program were met with broad skepticism at the meeting, which was organized by the Forks Chamber of Commerce.
Michelle Simpson, who with her husband, John, owns Beaver Creek Cabins on the Sol Duc River in Beaver, told Navy representatives she’s concerned about the effect of the emitters on migratory birds.
She also declared the program could result in a decline in local property values, particularly when the coast is declared a warfare training area.
Simpson also took the representatives to task for their failure to provide sufficient public notice.
“That was unneighborly,” she said. “Please look at your process.”
Notice of the proposal was not published in North Olympic Peninsula newspapers.
Navy veteran Heather Wilcox also remarked on the Navy’s failure to recognize that West End residents would have a strong reaction to the plan.
She said the noise of the current training programs is already a nuisance.
“It’s the sound of freedom,” she said. “But we have to be able to enjoy our freedom.”
Peter Larsen, a pilot for more than 40 years, said he is most concerned about the increase in air traffic.
He said Navy jets currently create far too much noise in the area.
Kent Mathes, Northwest Training Range Complex manager, told Larsen the increase in flights would be minimal.
Ruth Kettle, a resident of Forks for more than 40 years, drew applause from the audience with her fiery remarks, asking, “Who gave you permission to do this here?”
She said many visit the area to enjoy the forest.
“We might come out with two heads,” she said. “Are we supposed to believe nothing’s going to happen?”
Mosher responded, “Yes, ma’am,” and added that such training is necessary.
Kettle said the rumor is that the Navy wants the local population to move out.
Mosher denied the accusation, saying the project is “so benign, so insignificant, you’ll never know it’s happening.”
John Preston, a Navy veteran and a Forks resident since 1999, spoke in defense of the program, saying: “We live in a warfare range. We always have.
“The Olympic [Military Operating Area] has been over your head for a long time.”
Mosher also confirmed Preston’s assertion that the electronic warfare aircraft are used for jamming improvised explosive devices.
“Absolutely,” Mosher said. “And other devices.”
The Navy’s environmental assessment for the project, which found no significant impact, can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare.
Public comments can be emailed to Forest Service environmental coordinator Greg Wahl at gtwahl@fs.fed.us or sent to Wahl at 1835 Black Lake Blvd. S.W., Olympia, WA 98512.
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Reporter Mark Couhig can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at mcouhig@peninsuladailynews.com.
