Ranchers sue to bar low military flights

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Texas
STAR-TELEGRAM
Ranchers sue to bar low military flights
Posted on Tue, Jan. 13, 2004

DENVER - The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district
court finding that the Air Force legally decided to expand low-level
training flights over southern New Mexico and West Texas.

In a lawsuit filed in 1998, 20 individuals, the Otero County Cattleman's
Association and the Lincoln Permittees' Association said planned
training flights as low as 100 feet above desert flatlands threaten
their livelihoods, property values and way of life.

The lawsuit named as defendants the U.S. Air Force, its acting
secretary, the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen
and the Luftwaffe.

The U.S. District Court determined the Air Force's decision was "neither
arbitrary, capricious, nor without reasonable foundation."

But the ranchers near Holloman Air Force Base appealed, saying
procedures required under the National Environmental Policy Act to
assess the environmental impact of a bombing range on Otero Mesa
southeast of Alamogordo failed to consider reasonable alternatives. They
also argued the Air Force didn't adequately assess the impact on
property values, noise, livestock and possible aircraft accidents.

The U.S. Air Force and German Defense Ministry agreed in 1994 to
transfer 12 German Tornados and personnel to Holloman Air Force Base for
training. The two agreed in 1998 to expand that training to include 30
additional Tornados and a training ground on the Otero Mesa.

Expanded training missions would lead to as many as 4,300 training
flights a year, the Air Force has said. About 15 percent of those
missions would occur after 10 p.m.

On appeal, the ranchers argued the final environmental impact statement
completed by the U.S. Air Force failed to evaluate bases other than
Holloman as alternatives for the German expansion.

The Air Force argues that no other base was considered because "no other
base was reasonable."

"We conclude the U.S. Air Force's decision to eliminate other bases from
consideration in the 1998 EIS was not unreasonable in light of the
stated purpose and need for the German Air Force" expansion, the 10th
Circuit Court determined.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/7698431.htm

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