Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Is noise from Navy jets a threat to Olympic National Park?

The joys of Washington’s Olympic National Park include being put to sleep by the sound of surf, the whistle of winds at high places like Bogachiel Peak, and the swift, purposeful, near silent movement of a Roosevelt Elk herd across a meadow. U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., who represents the Olympic Peninsula, wants to know if these sounds — and silences — are threatened by the U.S. Navy’s interest in using areas of the Peninsula for electronic warfare range testing, with an increased number of jets flying over pristine places. Kilmer wants the National Park Service to collect new noise samples and data for FICAN. He wants the federal agency to review possible noise pollution of the 917,000-acre park, its mountainous interior and renowned coastal strip. The Navy has already conducted a noise study related to the National Environmental Policy Act. But, said Kilmer, the study used a framework “that is more commonly associated with community noise in urban settings and not appropriate for analyzing the impacts to a national park.”...more


The Presidential Proclamation for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument says that nothing in the document shall " preclude low level overflights of military aircraft".  It says nothing, however, about noise pollution.  I'm sure, though, that Udall-Heinrich would never let the monument designation interfere with the operations of White Sands Missile Range, Ft. Bliss or NASA...aren't you?

No comments: