Lack of support from politicians angers NOPE

Arecipe for disaster is brewing at the 11,000- acre main side base of Naval Weapons Station (NWS) Earle — which spans Colts Neck, Tinton Falls and Wall Townships — and the indifference of Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, as well as Gov. Jon Corzine is inexcusable and irresponsible government.

All New Jersey residents should know that three of its top elected leaders have shown zero public support and only gratuitous interest in grassroots efforts to prevent the U.S. Navy from renting housing at the Monmouth County base — federal property replete with 29 Superfund sites and 300 bunkers of high-powered ordnance, and one of the few, yet most critical and strategic U.S. weapons depots — to civilians, as soon as 2010.

Notwithstanding my highest regard for the service of our military forces, Navy decision makers expect to follow through on a 1980s housing contract no longer relevant in an era of terrorism, and that allows private developer, Laurelwood Homes, LLC, to rent the homes to anyone through 2040 — when coincidentally, the homes must be bulldozed.

Alarmingly, the contract requires that the Navy give way to a new, unimpeded access road (read: no background checks) to residents and guests of the 300 Laurelwood homes — at the same time the federal government gave NWS Earle $8.16 million to fortify its expertly guarded main gate just a few hundred yards away. The plan otherwise equates to an unfunded mandate of at least $300 million-$400 million on Earle's neighbors, namely to educate civilian children who will reside on federal land.

The idiocy of this plan is obvious and poses alarming risk to the security, economic and environmental concerns of area residents, namely those aligned with my group, Neighbors Opposed to Privatization at Earle (NOPE), and as championed for years by district four Rep. Christopher Smith. Even Rep. Rush Holt — from my district and far less sold on the potential for a security breach that could result from civilian housing at Earle — admits concern regarding this enormous unfunded mandate.

So where are you, messengers Lautenberg, Menendez and Corzine, on this issue?

Not only as chairman of NOPE, the grassroots coalition of some 3,000 supporters, but also as a lifelong resident who has grown weary of your apparent ambivalence toward an egregiously flawed Navy plan that threatens to devastate all of New Jersey, I encourage you to protect your constituents in full force, or at least let us know where you stand. New Jersey deserves to know.
Bill Holobowski
Tinton Falls