Delay in EIS release date

This week, Peaceful Chiricahua Skies was informed by the US Air Force (USAF) that the date for the release of the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be moved out a year to the spring of 2026. When the final EIS is released, the USAF does not plan a comment period.

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If you weren’t able to submit comments earlier or have additional comments, you can submit comments here. A copy of the comments we submitted is available here.

Below is a press release from Peaceful Chiricahua Skies about this with comments from CRC president Wynne Brown.

NEWS RELEASE from Peaceful Chiricahua Skies

For Immediate Use 5/9/22

Comment Deadline Extended to June 3 for Air Force proposal to Increase Flights, Noise Over Southeast Arizona

Campaign informing public of negative impacts making a difference

PORTAL, AZ— One effect of the thousands of letters and comments responding to the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) plan to allow low-altitude military flights with high-decibel noise levels across southern Arizona and New Mexico has been the extension of the project’s comment deadline to June 3.

“There’s no question that the proposal set off alarm bells among a wide range of stakeholders who will be affected by these misguided military training rules,” said Karen Fasimpaur, a volunteer who helped launch the campaign called Peaceful Chiricahua Skies designed to delay and ultimately halt the proposal. The campaign has already generated more than 1,000 petition signatures calling for the withdrawal of the plan and enlisted dozens of local businesses in opposition. The peacefulchiricahuaskies.org site also provides resources and background information about the Air Force proposal.

Wynne Brown, president of the Chiricahua Regional Council, a conservation group that works to protect important intact habitats in the Chiricahuas and surrounding areas, says the extra time for comments is appreciated and critical to the Air Force’s eventual determination of final rules it will accept, first in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) scheduled for release in Fall 2023 and then in a final EIS set for the following year. The DEIS document will involve extensive additional public comment. “The strong response of the Chiricahua-Peloncillo Mountain community to the obvious threats to people, wildlife, protected lands, domestic animals and the local economy has been key to this extension,” Brown said.

Fasimpaur notes that the Peaceful Chiricahua Skies campaign is now focusing on renewing the push for comments and encouraging residents to report all nuisance military flights, including those that fly outside of the existing boundary, which currently does not include the area around the recreation-based community of Portal.

While much of the response to the proposal has come from the community around the Portal, Arizona—Rodeo, New Mexico area, the region to be affected by the new expansion proposal represents a much larger landscape than that. According to the new training boundaries shown in proposed USAF maps, the Tombstone MOA portion of the proposal would expand to include much of eastern Cochise County, plus the entire Bootheel of New Mexico, including Douglas, Bisbee, and Portal in AZ, and Rodeo and Playas in NM. Several other new MOAs (Military Operations Areas) proposed for expansion in southern Arizona and New Mexico present similar issues. See peacefulchiricahuaskies.org for more details.

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With a lengthy fight likely ahead of us, CRC is in it for the long haul. We are partnering with other regional and national groups who are opposing this proposal, including Peaceful Chiricahua Skies.We have heard from some of you who would like to donate to this effort. You can donate to CRC’s general fund with a note that you’d like your donation to go toward supporting the opposition to the Air Force proposal. We will use those funds as needed for that purpose, and if they are not needed for that, we will use them to otherwise protect the habitats of the Chiricahua, Peloncillo and Dragoon Mountains, and nearby areas of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and adjacent northern Mexico.

The Air Force MOA expansion issue will appear dormant for the next year or so while the agency prepares the Draft EIS, which is planned to be released in the fall of 2023. After that there will be a public review and comment period, the Final EIS (summer 2024), and the Record of Decision (fall 2024).

In the meantime, we urge you to visit Peaceful Chiricahua Skies, sign this online petition, write your elected representatives, and share this information with others.

The post CRC to Collect Funds to Support Opposition to USAF’s MOA Expansion appeared first on Chiricahua Regional Council.

The contents of the CRC comments are as follows:

March 4, 2022

U.S. Air Force
Arizona Regional Airspace EIS
501 Butler Farm Road, Suite H
Hampton, VA 23666

Re: Opposition to the Tombstone MOA proposal for Expanded Military Training over the Chiricahua and Peloncillo Mountain region

To Whom It May Concern:

Chiricahua Regional Council (CRC) is a citizen’s watchdog group that monitors public agency actions and other issues affecting the Chiricahua, Peloncillo, and Dragoon Mountains, and nearby areas of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and adjacent northern Mexico. The CRC promotes responsible land use and wise, science-informed stewardship of our unique natural heritage. Our broad constituency includes scientists, ranchers, birders, naturalists, astronomers, artists, residents, visitors, and many others, who value our region’s spectacular qualities.

CRC is not opposed to military training. We are, however, deeply opposed to the Department  of  the Air  Force’s  proposed action to expand its Military Operations Area over the Chiricahua and Peloncillo Mountain region and surrounding private lands and towns in Arizona and New Mexico for the following reasons:

(1) We object to the way in which this process has been conducted.  The nearest public meeting for the Tombstone MOA was not only outside the  MOA itself  but  a 2-hour  drive  for  some  in  the  area and at an inconvenient time of day for many residents. Yet, enough local people were concerned that more than 100 people attended.

(2) Considerable information is lacking in the proposal as currently presented by the Air Force – and representatives at the meeting were unprepared to address those gaps.

(3) This area is in a 1,200-year drought cycle, and the Chiricahuas have already been hit by major wildfire events: The 2011 Horseshoe II fire burned 225,000 acres. The Air Force plan to increase the number of flares is extremely dangerous: The Forest Service has already had several instances of wildland fire ignitions caused almost certainly by flares from Air Force training flights. In the spring of 2021, the Telegraph Fire, near Globe Arizona, was likely ignited by a flare dropped from an Air Force, Air National Guard training flight. This fire cost the taxpayers approximately $35 million and put more than 1,000 firefighters at risk, in extremely rough terrain at the height of the southwestern fire season.

(4) The historic Chiricahua Wilderness Area, part of America’s first Wilderness Act of 1964, is a national treasure. While CRC certainly supports military preparedness, we strongly believe that the Chiricahua Wilderness is not an appropriate place for military training flights.

(5) According to the National Park Service’s sound map, southwest New Mexico is one of the quietest regions in the country. Cochise and Hidalgo Counties are renowned for their relaxed atmosphere, natural beauty, dark skies, and numerous federally protected areas. Many people are drawn to this area for its exceptionally high quality of life, and wildlands and wildlife critical to maintaining what’s left of nature.

(6) That natural beauty, dark skies, and quiet means that the local economy depends heavily on tourism. The draw of the birding opportunities available in Cave Creek Canyon, one of the world’s most celebrated avian viewing spots, generates millions of dollars in income for local businesses. This trend is expected to grow exponentially in the future.

(7) The local residents depend heavily on the local EMS services, and 25-30 percent of patients are medivac’d from this area to hospitals. Increasing the size of the MOA would disrupt if not eliminate helicopter service.

For all these reasons – and more – Chiricahua Regional Council is strongly opposed to the revised MOA as proposed. We ask that the Air Force thoroughly develop an alternative that reduces the Tombstone MOA to exclude entirely the most biologically important areas, primarily the areas of the Coronado National Forest within the MOA, along with adjacent or nearby National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges, and other specially designated areas.  Among the already proposed Alternatives, we can only potentially support Alternative 1 (“no action”), but believe that the Air Force needs to evaluate further exclusions (as it did for the Douglas Airport area of the southern Sulphur Springs Valley) because of the changing demographic, economic, and biological conditions within the MOA

Sincerely,

Wynne Brown, President
Chiricahua Regional Council
Portal, AZ 85632
chiricahuaregionalcouncil@gmail.com

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It is noteworthy that this meeting was the only one near the Tombstone MOA, although it was held outside the actual MOA and over a hundred miles from some of its residents. Many have asked the U.S. Air Force to schedule more accessible public meetings and to increase the time to submit public comments on scoping.

Despite the inconvenient location, an estimated crowd of more than 100 people attended the meeting. Some were disappointed in the format, which seemed designed to discourage group discussion of the issues. The Air Force organized the meeting as an open house with six tables and posters. There was no formal presentation, although participants asked many questions at individual stations. There was also an opportunity to provide written comments which many participants took advantage of.

A virtual presentation of the Air Force’s information is also available here.

Some of the individual questions and responses reported by attendees are shown below.

The next step in this process is for the public to submit comments on the public scoping phase by March 4. CRC will be submitting comments, and the Peaceful Chiricahua Skies coalition has sample comments and other resources available here.

Questions and answers from meeting (paraphrased here because there was no recording — further information may be available on the Air Force project site and may also be requested in scoping comments):

Q:   What types of planes will be flying over if this proposal goes ahead?

A:  F-35s and F-16s will be able to use Tombstone for supersonic airspace – i.e., as low as 5,000 ft AGL (above ground level). It might be that the F-35s from Luke AFB use the supersonic airspace at Tombstone when weather is bad (i.e. thunderstorms) at other airspaces and forces them to use Tombstone.
A-10s can’t reach supersonic speeds, but will use low-level airspace down to 100 ft AG.
F-16s and F-35s will be able to use the airspace for subsonic speeds down to 500 ft. AGL (not 100 ft AGL). 

Q: How many flights will be done? At low level? At night? With chaff? With flares?

A: Representatives couldn’t give any numbers of F-35 and F-16 sorties in the Tombstone MOA.

Q: What are the tangible benefits that our community can expect to receive if this plan is approved?

A: None

Q: How will the AF plan on reimbursing the communities for lost revenue from reduction in tourism?

A: The AF representatives said they have have never reimbursed any communities for that.

Q: Have you consulted with NPS, USFS or BLM before formulating your proposals? 

A: No. Also, these agencies, as well as USFW, would need to sign on as cooperating agencies. 

Q: How can we expect to assume that the Air Force will stay within the rules under the new plan when we see frequent violations already?

A: If you see any flights violating boundaries or rules, call Davis-Monthan and report that.
[Here is a form for reporting violations. You can also contact Davis-Monthan here.]

Q: That doesn’t work. I’ve done it many times.

A: Then you need to get your elected representatives to file complaints for you. [Information on contacting your elected representatives is available here.]

The post Air Force Public Meeting – February 24, 2022 appeared first on Chiricahua Regional Council.

A map of the areas affected is below and includes the Chiricahua, Peloncillo, and Dragoon Mountains, and nearby areas of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. More information is available here.

We are still assessing this proposal, but it is of obvious concern as it could result in flights as low as 100 feet above ground level, flights that break the sound barrier as low as 5,000 feet, more training missions at night, release of chaff and flares, and other negative consequences for our peaceful area of southeastern Arizona.

A similar threat was successfully opposed in the past by the Peaceful Gila Skies coalition.

Key upcoming activities and dates include a series of public meetings, including one in Animas on February 24, and scoping comments being due on March 4, 2022.

If you are interested in receiving more information on this threat and the work of a coalition to oppose it, sign up here. Also stay tuned to this site for more updates.

(click for interactive version)

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