Dear HCN,
Steve Stuebner’s article
on the Idaho Training Range (HCN, 1/24/94, p. 5), a proposed Air
Force bombing range that will turn approximately 3 million acres of
southwest Idaho into a virtual battle zone, accurately reflects the
stakes for Idaho’s environment. Environmentalists in other Western
states ought to pay close attention to the Pentagon’s bullying
tactics in this case – you could be next on the
list.
The Air Force has never made any attempt to
justify the new bombing range on national security grounds. In
fact, on a number of occasions, it has flatly stated that it can
adequately train its pilots on existing training space. Further,
despite long-standing demands that it do so, the Pentagon has yet
to undertake a comprehensive assessment of its overall needs for
military training in light of post-Cold War reductions in force.
Nor has it attempted to determine whether its existing bombing
ranges, which cover about 25 million acres in the United States,
including enormous tracts in California, Utah, Nevada and other
Western states, are adequate to meet overall
needs.
Instead, the Air Force has used the threat
of closing Mountain Home Air Force Base as economic blackmail to
steamroll local opposition. That Gov. Cecil Andrus eagerly promotes
the new range speaks volumes about the effectiveness of this
tactic.
Eric
Christensen
Arlington,
Virginia
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Watch out for the military.
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