A military watchdog group has won the right to know whether the Air Force considered places outside Utah in planning the now-defunct electronic battlefield.
U.S. Magistrate Calvin Gould ruled in favor of the Downwinders in a suit the group filed in 1989 under the Freedom of Information Act. The Air Force claimed certain documents didn't have to be disclosed because they were prepared before any decision was made.Downwinders is entitled to know the basis of the Air Force's refusal to release information, Gould said. He branded as "untenable" the Air Force argument that answering questions or saying why it won't answer them would reveal the deliberative process.
"It's terrific," said Downwinders' spokesman Steve Erickson, Salt Lake City. "Round One goes our direction."
Aside from the lawsuit, he added, Downwinders wants the Air Force to release a draft environmental impact statement it says it has developed. That's not part of the suit, he added, but the Air Force has refused to release the statement because it is no longer planning to build the range in Utah.
"After all this controversy, all this time and effort and millions of dollars spent on that electronic battlefield, the taxpayers have a right to see what they've paid for," he said.