U.S. Navy & NOAA Meeting Information

RE:    U.S. Congressman Thompson has graciously requested that the U.S. Navy & NOAA meet with the public

in both Mendocino & Humboldt Counties in December 2010, and they have accepted this invitation - Schedule Below:

1) http://mikethompson.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=216749

    U.S. Navy Public Meeting Schedule - NWTRC  Mendocino & Humboldt Counties, CA

2) http://mikethompson.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=216750

    Dr. Jane Lubchenco - NOAA Meeting in Mendocino County on December 9, 2010 - NWTRC

This is to notify everyone that NOAA and the U.S. Navy will be meeting with the public on the issue of the U.S. Navy Warfare Testing activities planned for the NWTRC.  U.S. Congressman Thompson has organized these public meetings for residents of both Humboldt & Mendocino Counties.  Representatives from Marin County are invited to attend these public events.  It should be noted that NOAA has issued a permit and a Letter of Authorization to the Navy (All Finalized on November 12, 2010), which does not protect any National Marine Sanctuaries, Marine Reserves, Biologically Sensitive Areas, and does not stop the Navy from testing new weapons systems (including sonar), during the gray whale migrations or the salmon migrations.

    In the future these plans can be altered on any date by the U.S. Navy or NOAA placing the information in the U.S. Federal Register.  And the Navy does not need to notify anyone, including fishermen or ocean tourists, that these events are underway.  There NOAA permit requires only Navy reports on its impacts in the NWTRC and relies, according to U.S. Congressman Thompson, upon mitigation measures effective only 9% of the time.

    It should also be noted that  NOAA held no workshops to determine biologically sensitive areas in the NWTRC during 2010.  It plans workshops in 2011, to be completed by November 2011.   We are requesting that these

workshops for the NWTRC be held in Humboldt County, California, in order for our marine biologists and scientists to participate in these workshops which are Navy/NOAA sponsored and also that they be held in January or February 2011, instead of waiting until the end of the 2011, before completion. 

(Please note that no National Marine Sanctuaries, marine reserves or biologically sensitive areas are protected where ongoing 5-Year Warfare testing is underway in Southern California or the Hawaiian Islands.  With a new 5-Year warfare testing range initiated in the U.S. Federal Register on July 15, 2010, which will connect the area between the Hawaiian and Southern California Warfare Testing ranges, ever-increasing impacts will be felt with regard to breeding habitats, which are not now protected in the NWTRC, marine food supply areas, and migration routes will be even more heavily impacted by this new range.  Also added in 2010 is the 5-Year Warfare Testing program in the Marianas Islands.)

All of this information is online or available on my website:

http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/?q=us-navy

or online as part of NOAA and U.S. Navy documents which were previously sent to your office.

If you have any questions please contact U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson's Office in Washington, DC

(866) 220-0044 

We hope that you will have representatives from Northern California Attending these Important Meetings.

Respectfully,

Rosalind Peterson

Post Office Box 499

Redwood Valley, CA 95470

(707) 485-7520

E-Mail: info@californiaskywatch.com

Link to the U.S. Navy Final Environmental

Dec. 6, 2010