https://gallery.mailchimp.com/573bef2461b83f4ea747205bc/images/0ab493f8-92b6-48a9-a11d-f2fb182c60e6.png" style="max-width: 1169px; padding-bottom: 0px; display: inline; vertical-align: bottom; border-width: 0px; border-style: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; height: auto; outline: medium none; text-decoration: none;" class="m_2070910052431934202m_2446546697813306003gmail-m_-7371236451552660284mcnImage" align="middle" width="564" /> Dear Friends and Colleagues, An avalanche of major federal actions that will affect the lives and livelihoods of people and wildlife living in Northwest Washington and along the southwestern Canadian coast has arrived just in time to conflict with the holiday season. One is the Navy's Growler jet Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which promises huge increases in jet noise, and the other is the long-awaited decision by the US Forest Service to grant the Navy a permit for electronic warfare training using roads in the Olympic National Forest. Two comment periods are now open.  We are working on preparing comments for both federal actions that the public can copy, paste, or use to augment your own comments. Right now we have ready for you a set of comments on the Forest Service's decision. Click here to read the post and download the comment templates - there's a long version and a (relatively) short version. In a week or so, we hope to have comments on the Navy's Draft EIS that you can also use.  Past tactics that have been used by the Navy to militarize the Pacific Northwest include:  Failure to provide reasonable notice to the public Failure to provide adequate comment process Failure to consult Native American Tribes in a timely or comprehensive manner  Failure to address functionally connected activities and their cumulative impacts, by splitting large projects into small pieces Failure to adequately consider impacts to Olympic National Park’s World Heritage designation Failure to wait until completion of Final EIS and Record of Decision before initiating actions  These tactics, which have given us the messes we're now in, are nearly identical to the ones the Army Corps of Engineers has allowed in the Dakota Access Pipeline construction at Standing Rock and at the Longview Coal Terminal, and are the same tactics the Navy has used in the Northern Marianas Islands against American citizens, to kick indigenous people off an island they've inhabited for 3,000 years so it can be turned into a bombing range.  Navy jets are soon going to make our skies rumble worse than ever, so let's rumble back. It's time we all recognize these patterns and blow the whistle on chronic and pervasive manipulations of laws that were designed to protect people and the environment equally, but instead result in stark differences in who benefits, and whose environment or community gets protected. It's time our elected officials stopped ignoring our concerns about what rampant militarization is doing to our lives. We believe that the government should follow the law, and that it is neither unpatriotic nor unreasonable for citizens to ask them to do so.   What can you do right now? 1.) Read the posts, download the long and short versions of the letter/analysis, and use them to prepare your own comments.  2.) Follow directions given, to submit comments.  3.) Start calling elected officials (list here), and tell them that the thousands of their constituents who have made their concerns loud and clear have been completely ignored. 4.) Write letters to editors of local papers. Thank you for your time.  Sincerely, The West Coast Action Alliance and the Olympic Forest Coalition U.S. Forest Service Approves U.S. Navy Electronic Warfare Testing in Olympic National Forest - Draft Letter at link Below: Subject: ADV: USDA Forest Service Olympic NF - Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range Environmental Assessment Update-broken web link You are subscribed to Olympic NF - Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range Environmental Assessment for USDA Forest Service. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. UPDATE: The web link embedded in the signed letter was not functioning correctly. Please see the attached letter with the updated internet links. The EA, Draft DN/FONSI, and associated project documents are available on-line for review at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=42759 . Objections must be submitted to Reviewing Officer Reta Laford. Electronic objections should be submitted to: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=... . Objections may alternatively be submitted by FAX (360-956-2330) and by mail or in person (1835 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia, WA 98512) during business hours (M-F 8:00am to 4:30pm). In all cases, the subject line should state "OBJECTION Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range".     2016-11-29.NavyPermitInterestedPartyLetterDraftDecisionFONSI.pdf

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