Military Expansions

[marianne.thaeler@sfsierra.sierraclub.org]

Now we know what all the creeping military expansionism is all about. See
an article I just wrote for the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter newsletter.
To the best of my knowledge, and I have been following
this closely, there are no Cooperative Agreements or MOUS with the public
lands management agencies whose lands are involved, although some, not all,
private land owners have leased their lands - one for a missile launch site
and one for covert operations training. And, neither the Governor or the
State Legislature informed. Also heard that Fort Irwin is planning to expand
tank training into National Park lands in California - need to confirm which
park, guess it is Mojave?

LIVE! COMING TO NEW MEXICO! THE GULF WAR REVISITED

By Marianne Thaeler, Military Issues Chair
Rio Grande Chapter

Coming to New Mexico during April, 1997! Coming to Otero,
Socorro, Lincoln, De Baca, Guadalupe, Quay, Torrance, Harding,
Colfax, Union, Dona Ana, and Bernalillo Counties, New Mexico and
El Paso, Texas: Roving Sands 97 Joint Training Exercises will
replicate probable combat conditions including ground-to-air,
air-to-air, and air-to-ground combat scenarios. 

According to the "Supplemental Environmental Assessment for Joint
Training Exercise, Roving Sands 97," (released locally last week, over my
objections that an EIS is required) the US Army Forces Command, Headquartered
at Fort McPherson, Georgia, will be conducting a multi-national military force
training exercise called Roving Sands 97 in New Mexico, which will include
joint US military service (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Guard units.)
These exercises will begin April 2, 1997 with deployment of troops, truck
convoys, missile launchers, etc., and the "live fly" phase will be April
20-26, 1997, and will include A-6, B-1, B-52, C- 130, F-111, F-4, F-14, F-15,
F-16, F-18, Tornados and helicopters. German Tornados will fly out of
Holloman AFB. A total of 1,730 low level sorties are expected.

Planned in conjunction with Roving Sands 97 is a special, Joint
Chiefs of Staff special project, Project Sandstorm, to assess US
capabilities to locate and destroy missile systems (e.g. SCUDS)
before they are launched.

After the Roving Sands exercises, US Army Fort Bliss will be
conducting live fire training on McGregor Range in Otero County,
and Dona Ana Range in New Mexico for some of the Roving Sands
participants. 

The arena will include 118 field sites to be located on White
Sands Missile Range (WSMR) and Fort Bliss in New Mexico, AND
areas managed by BLM, plus some leased private lands in Socorro
County, AND BLM managed lands of McGregor in Otero County, AND
Military Operations Areas in De Baca, Guadalupe, Quay, Lincoln,
Torrance, Harding, Colfax and Union Counties (including BLM lands), AND
airspace over these Counties including airspace over Dona Ana County abutting
the Las Cruces city limits north of Hwy 70, AND private leased lands near the
town of Fort Sumner, NM, for Army Special Operations Forces training.

Exercises will be conducted from Fort Bliss, Texas, including
Biggs Air Field, WSMR, Roswell Industrial Air Center, Holloman
Air Force Base (AFB), Cannon AFB, and Kirtland AFB in New Mexico.

A total of 20,000 troops will be involved, 16,000 at one time,
and 6,500 will be located in field locations. The Joint Chiefs
of Staff special project, called Sandstorm, will disperse
approximately 400 personnel around sites in the rural counties.
The peak number of personnel deployed at sites on McGregor Range
will be approximately 1,800, about 800 of which will be located
on Otero Mesa as part of the Air Defense Artillery with Patriot
missiles. A contingent of 3,300 will be located at sites on Fort
Bliss Dona Ana Range.

The greatest environmental impacts to New Mexico will be from:
- noise from low flying air craft, 
- dust (particulate matter) and air pollution from truck convoys 
 on dirt roads, 
- wild fires that may be started (WSMR does not allow open fires, 
 but Ft. Bliss does but regulates) by accident, or as a result 
 of Ft. Bliss "live fire" exercises being conducted during this 
 period of general drought in southern New Mexico or from the 
 use of flares and other pyrotechnics, 
- effects on antelope populations as these exercises are taking 
 place during Otero Mesa calving season, 
- effects on bird populations during spring nesting season, and
- water supplies will be impacted particularly in El Paso, Texas 
 from the sheer numbers of troops involved, their hygiene needs 
 and the washing of vehicles after exercises are over. 
And, the numbers of individuals using the lands of New Mexico all
during a short period of time will, in and of themselves, have
impacts, and there is always a potential for accidents. 

All this said, there has been NO input during the planning
process' for these exercises from the Governor of New Mexico, the
State Legislature, or local city or county officials. The Otero
County Commission had requested that the Site 10 road to the DOD
Only Hunting Area not be upgraded to allow its use by truck
convoys, but their request to date has not been recognized.
(This is one reason that rural counties are demanding local supremacy.)

Will there be, has there been, environmental damage as a result
of previous Roving Sands exercises? Yes. Is Roving Sands 1997
bigger than previous years? Yes, an increase from 10,000 to
20,000 troops. Are there more such exercises planned for the
future? Yes. Will tanks be used again, as has been done in
previous years? Yes, we have been told tanks will be temporarily
located at Fort Bliss in New Mexico within the coming year.

To quote from the Roving Sands 97, Finding of No Significant
Impacts, signed February 7, 1997, by James T. Hill, Major
General, USA, Deputy Chief of Staff for operations, prior to any
public input to the "Supplemental Environmental Assessment":

"RS 97 will result in minor impacts to physical biological and
cultural resources."

To most New Mexicans 16,000 to 20,000 uninvited guests roaming
and flying low around the state does constitute a major
environmental impact, when they are all here at once, stay a
short time, and then leave. The major economic benefit is to El
Paso, Texas, where headquarters, staging and housing are located. 
END