[Copies of this letter were sent individually to Sen. Milulski, Sen. Cardin, all of the Maryland Congressmen, the President and the State Department on December 21, 2009]
I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and that your Holiday season is most enjoyable.
As one of five Queen Anne’s County Commissioners, I write you at this time as an individual Commissioner to express my views regarding the selection of the Hunt Ray farm in Queen Anne’s County as the favored site for the proposed Centralized Diplomatic Training Facility (CDTF).
In early September, our Board of County Commissioners sent you and other Federal and State official’s initial letters of support for consideration of the site in Queen Anne’s County (QAC) for this federal project. It was my understanding that job creation and other economic development activities might justify encouraging the presence of such an extensive facility in our rural county, but since then additional considerations and facts have come to light which have required me to reassess my position. The wonderful snowfall this past weekend afforded me an opportunity for further research and to organize my thoughts regarding the matter.
The “Security Training Facility & Services Solicitation Number: SS10-DST-01 [here is the link] raises some very serious concerns regarding the activities to be conducted at the CDTF. I urge you to review this multipage document.
The munitions activities, both targeted and tactical, are much more extensive than originally represented , and these functions, coupled with the anticipated helicopter traffic, will result in substantial disruption of the peace and serenity currently enjoyed by our citizens in the Ruthsburg-Centreville area and other areas of QAC within the helicopter flyzones and hearing distance of the weapons firing and explosions. The negative impacts of this noise (and light) pollution on the adjacent Tuckahoe State Park –both its habitat and visitors — are obvious.
The role of the CDTF as an armored vehicle depot also concerns me, because our State Highway needs have been consistently neglected. Our major highway corridors, 301 and US 50, have an unusual number of at-grade intersections; for years QAC officials have pleaded with State and Federal officials for aid. Despite numerous accidents, some involving losses of life, our requests have continued to be ignored . There have been no assurances that the Federal government will perform these improvements in anticipation of the CDTF. I cannot imagine a worse traffic scenario with all of the additional traffic this facility will create beyond what will be associated with its being an armored vehicle depot.
I understand that on-site waste water disposal is being considered for the CDTF, but we all recognize that single point discharge is preferable ecologically. I have yet to hear of any discussions between federal agencies or Congressional offices and the Town of Centreville or Queen Anne’s County regarding Centreville sewage treatment plant improvements and extension of service to the CDTF. I would hope that such improvements would be forthcoming in the spirit of the Presidential Executive Order signed on May 12, 2009 by President Barack Obama: an Executive Order that recognizes the Chesapeake Bay as a national treasure and calls on the federal government to lead a renewed effort to restore and protect the nation’s largest estuary and its watershed. Indeed, I am constrained to ask how the Administration can consider a facility of this type and scale in this environmentally sensitive location to be consistent with the “federal leadership” professed in the Executive Order.
In addition to being a QAC citizen and a County Commissioner, I am a long -standing member of the QAC Chamber of Commerce, and the 2009 Commissioner liaison to the QAC Economic Development Commission. Certainly, the prospect of significant job creation and other economic development activities generated by the CDTF would be very welcome, but even the facts on these prospects have been changed (or clarified) since early September. We were originally informed that up to 500 jobs would be created, but since then we have learned that up to 265 or more of these will be taken up by relocations from federal agencies located elsewhere. Hospitality enterprises such as hotels and restaurants may experience some short-term benefits, but as the phased-in construction of
dormitories, mess-halls and other dining facilities and commissaries progresses, any new County-based enterprises will certainly be economically challenged.
On the broader front, I do not now question the wisdom of consolidating the existing diplomatic security training centers in a single location, but I do question why none of the existing centers are being considered for expansion. With all of the BRAC-related closures, I also question why those sites are not being considered. Certainly acquisition of land to expand in either situation should be explored.
These last considerations are especially of concern to me, given that Significant ARRA dollars - money we don’t yet have and will be spent on the backs of future generations — have been committed to create this new centralized facility. I pride myself on my Reagan values, including strong national security, but absent a justification that I doubt is there, I find this to be fiscally irresponsible when other sites could and should be expanded or refurbished at less expense.
Last, but particularly troubling, is the fact that despite numerous requests by our Board (usually initiated upon my request) for the federal agencies and/or federal elected officials to hold a public information session or hearing on the site in QAC, these requests have gone entirely unanswered. These requests, first conveyed concurrently with our letters in early September, have now been ignored for nearly 4 months. I personally find the lack of attention to our requests for government transparency appalling. For an Administration which prides itself on bringing greater transparency to federal government activities generally, and proposed ARRA expenditures specifically, I feel all
those involved at the federal level have failed the President miserably on this issue.
In closing, given the concerns that have come to light since September and that I have articulated in this letter, I am unable to support any further consideration of the CDTF site in Queen Anne’s County. I feel that my lending ongoing support as a QAC Commissioner would be irresponsible, as this facility will not be in the best interests of our County. As is now plain, the adverse impacts clearly outweigh any positive ones, and there is not a sufficient basis for taking a step that would forever change our way of life in Queen Anne’s County.
This Centralized Diplomatic Training Facility should not be constructed in Queen Anne’s County.
Sincerely,
Eric S. Wargoz, M.D.