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Air Force Environmental Impact Statement

I think everyone needs to read the EIS and see what the USAF is proposing.
http://www.hollomanafbairspaceeis.com/Documents.aspx
While I understand that we need our military and that our pilots need training, this is not the place for it. A couple of items in the proposal: Training flights over our area, including Silver City and portions of the Gila and Aldo Leopold Wilderness areas. Some of these flights could be as low as 1800 ft above ground level. Not exactly part of the wilderness experience our visitors expect. Also, over the entire Military Operations Area, the proposal includes dropping nearly 123,000 pieces of LITTER (flare debris and foil chaff)per year. Public comment period ends December 10; there will be only one public meeting, December 4 in Silver City. Make yourself heard!

Re: Air Force Environmental Impact Statement

This Environmental Impact Statement is a total sham. They mostly try to establish that it isn't that noisy. There is no discussion of the effect of noise on wildlife or livestock. They claim it isn't any noisier than a normal "suburb" and there is no measurable noise level below a number of "35" while this is measured as over "40" or "50" as well as claim this compares with the "noise" of wildlife and wind. Do they really think a suburb is as quiet at a forest? They do not investigate the effects of the aluminum and plastic chaff on wildlife or what happens to this trash as it collects in the puddles and streams and then consumed by wildlife. They do not spend any discussion on the potential hazard if a flare should not burn out before reaching the ground or the effect of the burned out flares littering the ground or their effect on hikers and trail riders or their dogs and horses. They don't even lie about there not being any potential hazards. They do admit that there will be no assistance from the military should there be any problem like a fire. They admit that there will be annoyance over populated areas, but use a calculation that belies the numbers of planes flying at 2000 feet or less and rattling our windows and cracking our plaster, while not actually addressing those issues.

But mostly they do not discuss or care that this is over and dropping trash onto a designated WILDERNESS, which was set aside for the purpose of leaving it in a natural condition.

Please write to the designated folks, listed on the Holloman web site and posted on the several interested group pages. They aren't even allowing the usual 90 day comment period but have cut it in half to 45 days. So this is urgent. Tell them that we aren't fooled by this sham of an EIS or by their avoidance of discussion of the direct effects on our citizens. None of their air-space options are satisfactory as none of them are actually unpopulated. Our rural residents ought to be considered as well. This is about training our allies pilots but also about not being honest about the impact.