HALES LAKE
Camden County farmers say flammable and unstable peat beneath the surface of bean fields here make this the wrong place for the Navy to build an airfield.
They hope soil samples taken last week will verify what they say and what past soil surveys suggest because they don't want a practice field here.
Hales Lake, one of five sites where the Navy proposes building an outlying landing field, was once part of the Dismal Swamp. Soybean fields stretch for miles uninterrupted except for large drainage ditches. Without drainage, the fields could not be farmed. The area isn't called Hales Lake for nothing, OLF opponents say.
Surveys show deep layers of organic material
cover the area. The land must be drained to get a tractor through it. An 8,000-foot runway pounded by F/A-18 Hornets landing and taking off would not hold up, said Jeff Jennings, a farmer who owns much of the land, and chairman of the Camden County Board of Commissioners.
"I've seen peat out there go 12 to 15 feet down," Jennings said.
The nearby Blackwater Worldwide complex, however, includes an operational runway. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell would not comment on construction details.
Farmers will not burn stubble off harvested wheat fields here as they normally do because of worries that the fire will sink into the peat. It can burn for months underground, leaving gaps that would have to be filled in with a bulldozer, said Kevin Jennings, Jeff Jennings' brother.
To get samples, engineers sank clear tubes about 16 feet into the ground in seven spots and removed the tubes filled with dirt in visible layers, Kevin Jennings said.
Surveys of Camden County show the Hales Lake area with four different soil types, Roper muck, Belhaven muck, Wasda muck and Hyde silt loam. The survey describes each of these soils to be very wet with a low strength level, unsuitable for septic systems and unstable as a construction base.
"If you step in that stuff when it's wet, you sink to your knees," said Steve Sutton, the Camden County ranger for the North Carolina Forest Service. "It's not solid at all."
Currituck and Camden counties hired Cary engineering firm Withers & Ravenel to study the possible effects of an OLF might on storm-water runoff, soils, wetlands and wildlife, among other things. The soil samples were among the first steps of the study.
The Navy is negotiating with landowners at all five proposed sites to get access for its own environmental study, said Navy spokesman Ted Brown. Soil samples will be part of the Navy's study, he said.
A report on the soil samples was not completed as of Friday, said John Morrison, Camden County attorney.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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love to see the jets
They are soooo cool and to thank I see them every day LOL
But really does VA Beach need the base, NO it does not. 1,200 jobs only to be lost. Wait... didn't we just lose over 3,000 jobs when the GW left. Well look at this way the traffic would be better.
Not quite. .
Virginia Beach is a tourist town, and the most populous city in Hampton Roads, which is why Oceana's jets don't belong there anymore. BRAC already spoke on the matter. I for one will be VERY happy when the noise pollution goes away. Jet noise has nothing to do with freedom.
Keep the OLF in VA Beach
Where is Thelma Drake when you need her? She should be insisting that the OLF be built at Oceana or Fentress. Virginia Beach is a Navy town and it needs to stay that way. As a tax payer I do not want to pay again for what I have already paid for to build Oceana and Fentress. Build on our previous investments. Long live the sound of Freedom! Tell the whiners to move out.
Other People's Money
It's so easy for the government to spend out tax $$ on follies such as a new OLF on reclaimed swamp. Spending 2008 dollars on 1950s technology. NC and western Tidewater, you have a choice over Superhornets or not, I didn't. Whatever works to keep the OLF out of your community, go for it.
Why would you report the soil to be
wrong due to flammability when you are reporting the 4 types of soil to have a high moisture level?
There may be a sensible answer to this but it should be explained so that those like me who are not technical experts could really understand.
Doesn't matter. .
The Navy just keeps wasting money for an OLF they will never get, and even if they do they couldn't build it before BRAC relocates the jets. Oceana is done eventually, as BRAC said. ."the future of aviation is NOT Oceana. . The Navy should be proactive and seek a place to move the jets.
Funny
"The nearby Blackwater Worldwide complex, however, includes an operational runway. "
So when did Blackwater start doing touch and go's w/ F-18's? Doesn't really seem like a valid comparison does it? I am curious why it was mentioned at all.
So What...
They can do the same thing the developer did when he built Courthouse Estates. They'll just scrape off the soil and sell it. Then they'll bring in some crappy, litter filled soil to back-fill everything. Problem solved.....
peatground
Mr. Winkie, where have you been while the fires in the Dismal Swamp, and the Hyde, Tyrrell County, NC areas have been burning? That's PEAT darling. Soak it with jettisoned jet fuel, and jet exhaust residue and see how long it will burn. While Virginians may think they rule the world, you couldn't rule which way the wind blew the smoke, could you? If you don't care how much an airfield costs to build (you CAN build about anything, anywhere if you're willing to spend the money) or destroying other people's lives, maybe you care about your own air quality.
OLF
Yeah, the soil is not good for a landing field. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, LOL)