Homestead Air Force Base

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

WILL HOMESTEAD AFB BECOME AN AIRPORT

Another closing military air base is facing the airport debate.
1,360-acre Homestead Air Force Base, near Miami, Florida, was virtually
destroyed by hurricane Andrew in 1992. Then the U.S. government decided
to close the base. The only remaining tenant is the Air Force Reserve,
which operates 20 aircraft there.

The local government in Homestead, its business community, and the city
of Miami want to turn the Air Force Base into a commercial airport, but
conservationists are opposed. The Jacksonville Times-Union (November 16,
1997) reports, "The Homestead site is just 10 miles from Everglades
National Park and just two miles from Biscayne National Park, two of the
nation's most imperiled federal preserves. Although the U.S. military
operated an air base here for 50 years before the storm and Pentagon
cost-cutters shut it down, opponents contend that a civilian airport and
the inevitable commercial development around it would have disastrous
consequences." They are hoping to block the transfer to Dade County, and
if that fails, "the Sierra Club and other groups have vowed to file suit
in federal court ..."

Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO (and Pacific Studies Center)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@igc.org