Actually, after furhter research, it's 80% of the landing field will be in Washington County.

I agree that this was a bad idea from the beginning.

This isn't about one or two birds. This area is the winter home of over 100,000 waterfowl, including 25% of the country's eastern population of tundra swans.

Also, the Navy plans to purchase this property outright. That means it will not be a part of the county's tax base because they wouldn't have to pay real estate taxes on it. Last figure I heard was around 40-45% of the county would be pulled out of the tax base. How can a county survive when almost half of it's revenue is gone?

Didn't Al Gore invent Figure 8 Island???

RWI, is a horrible idea, too many people live in that area. I agree Washington county is horrible also. I agree with some of the others regarding using current facilities rather than building a new facility. What is amazing is our highways and other developmental project have to meet environmental guidelines yet it seems the Navy does not. I am a former estimator for a highway contractor here in N.C. Part of my job was to get permits for sand pits for highway construction. I have seen projects stopped or moved simply because of a single small mullusks living in a stream or creek. I had a sand pit permit denied because there was a single fern and a small patch of water in the middle of a 200 acre pit. The Navy is pressing forward with plans to disrupt millions of birds and thousands of people yet development in parts of the western U.S. are blocked by a single little scretch owl. It is amazing what will happen when the government is involved.

rswood, you can take that a step further to say that the only reason why liberal congress shuts them down is because the military had nothing to barter with at the time. Or it could be the plan all along with kickbacks and such. To me they are all corrupt, we have no elected officials anymore who are true citizens of the people. They are all twisted with lobby money and greed.