HARRY HUGHES, Governor

3753

FOR the purpose of requesting the United States Department of
Navy to end all further consideration of any site on the
Chesapeake Bay for the location of the EMPRESS II project.

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Navy has announced
a proposal to locate an Electro Magnetic Pulse Radiation
Environmental Simulator for Ships (EMPRESS II) project in the
Chesapeake Bay near Bloodsworth Island; and

WHEREAS, The Navy has not given sufficient consideration to
the adverse effects of the proposed exclusionary zone of 12.6
square miles for the EMPRESS II project on the commercial and
recreational users of this portion of the Chesapeake Bay,
including the effect on 1,193 acres of public oyster bar in the
zone; and

WHEREAS, The Navy has not adequately addressed issues
bearing on human health effects including exposure to electric
fields which has been shown to increase the risk of various types
of cancer, the possibility that exposure to electromagnetic
radiation can cause several nonthermal effects including changes
in blood chemistry, damage to lymphocytes and monocytes,
granulocytopenia, monocytosis, and cosenphillia and moderate
neutrophillia, the possibility that exposure may also cause
cardiac arrhythmias, and that changes in the digestive system,
glands, metabolism, reproductive cycles, visual system and
internal sound perception have also been noted; and

WHEREAS, The Navy has not addressed adequately the
possibility of boaters receiving brief but painful electric
shocks for a distance of up to 3 miles which has been raised by
the Johns Hopkins, Applied Physics Laboratory; and

WHEREAS, The Navy has concentrated its attention on the site
at the Bloodsworth Island portion of the Chesapeake Bay and seems
to be ignoring 97 other sites including land based sites or ocean
sites; and

WHEREAS, The Navy has not adequately addressed the following
issues bearing on natural resources: the possible electrocution
of fish, birds, and shellfish larvae and other important
organisms, the possible disturbance of migratory patterns of
birds and finfish, and the possibility that sounds propagated in
the water by EMP testing could cause undesirable effects to
marine mammals and fish; and

WHEREAS, The above important concerns have not received
sufficient analysis in the Navy's draft environmental impact
statement (DEIS) for this project; and

WHEREAS, The local citizens, including watermen, and elected
officials have expressed their strong opposition to the location
of the EMPRESS II project in the proposed area of Chesapeake Bay,
particularly at the public hearing held in Dorchester County on
November 20, 1984; and