By Staff
Resolution proposed by state treasurer
By NIKIE MAYO
News Editor
The state’s top elected officials voted unanimously Tuesday to draft a resolution against a Navy-proposed outlying landing field in Washington and Beaufort counties.
The Council of State, which includes the governor, lieutenant governor and eight other officials who are elected statewide, opted to do a resolution at the behest of State Treasurer Richard Moore.
The resolution will be drafted soon, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, will be given an opportunity to weigh in on it, said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.
Site C, as the Navy terms it, has sparked heavy criticism from the state’s elected officials recently, including Republican U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole. Much of that criticism has centered on the site’s proximity to Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and the bird-jet strike danger that opponents say exists there.
Moore said the move is not an anti-military one.
In a letter read at last month’s Charlotte public hearing on the OLF, Moore said Site C “has the potential to be an environmental disaster.”
Troxler said the agricultural impact of choosing such a site should not be lost, either.