An Observer editorial the other day bemoaned the fact that a defense authorization bill President Bush was vetoing over an unrelated issue included a badly needed ban on the Navy’s using any money to build its proposed outlying landing field in Washington and Beaufort Counties. That site, near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, would put pilots, planes and large migratory waterfowl at risk. It’s just the wrong place for a practice landing field for aircraft carrier landings.
But Paul Cox, press secretary of U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., reports that a similar feature in the Consolidated Appropriations Act is now law. President Bush signed it Dec. 26, he notes. Price, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, “made this provision a priority for inclusion in the omnibus bill.” The section (128) reads: “None of the funds in this title shall be used for any activity related to the construction of an Outlying Landing Field in Washington County, North Carolina.”
That seems plain enough. This fight is all but over. The only question is whether the Navy will find an alternative site in either Virginia or North Carolina. It’s possible, but local support will be the key.
Cox added, “The Defense Authorization bill is generally a policy bill. It authorizes appropriations, but does not actually appropriate funds. The appropriations bill actually determines how much money is spent and where (or where not, in this case).”
