Reed says no live weapons off RI coast during navy exercises next year
By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., says there will be no live weapons fired off the
coast of Rhode Island during Navy training exercises scheduled for November
2018.
“The
Navy does NOT intend to fire missiles, rockets, lasers, grenades, detonate
mines and explosive buoys off the coast of Rhode Island,” a Reed spokesman
wrote in an e-mail to ecoRI News.
The
response comes as the Navy hosts a public hearing July 19 at Hotel Providence
to discuss the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing
Study Area, which encompasses 2.6 million square miles of coastal
waters from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.
“Training
and testing can occur across all operating areas off of the East Coast and Gulf
starting November 2018,” according to a press release from Navy public affairs
officer Theodore Brown.
Both
Reed and Brown said the plan will likely mimic a 2013 environmental impact study.
The study shows restricted areas in Block Island Sound, and in Narragansett Bay
at the Naval War College and in an area north of the Aquidneck Island college.
The
Navy promises to use spotters to protect marine mammals during the exercises.
Public comment on the environmental
impact statement is open until Aug. 29. The July 19 public hearing at Hotel
Providence, 139 Mathewson St., is from 4-8 p.m.