Military watchdogs and environmentalists are accusing the Air Force of underestimating the impact that a proposed expansion of the Utah Test and Training Range would have on humans and wildlife.
The land and air mass that would be affected is "just huge," said Steve Erickson, director of the Utah-based Citizens Education Project. "And they're trying to downplay it."
The Air Force has said that the proposed expansion would increase the training range's air space by 1.4 percent. But Erickson said the percentage increase amounts to about 1.6 million acres, or 1,840 square miles, that will be impacted.
The national Rural Alliance for Military Accountability, based in Reno, Nev., said Friday that nearly 2,000 sonic booms that would occur annually because of the expansion would bring pain and discomfort to people living in several communities beneath the proposed expanded airspace.
Public comments were due this past week on the Air Force's draft environmental impact statement that outlines the proposal to expand the training range by an area roughly 30 by 60 nautical miles (one nautical mile equals about 1.15 miles) for the so-called White Elk Military Operating Area.
"Supersonic flight allows the pilots to engage and disengage at a rapid rate, simulating conditions of real-world conflict," the Air Force said.
When the 12,574 square-mile training range is being used for "higher priority" testing, such as cruise-missile tests, the Air Force said it wants to use the extra air space in Nevada to support Hill Air Force Base's 388th Fighter Wing as part of its "Ready Aircrew Program" training. In the impact statement, the Air Force said F-16 pilots at Hill forgo about 10 to 15 percent of required training activities due to lack of air space within the Rhode Island-sized training range. The result, Air Force officials said, is affecting the pilots' combat-ready status.
But critics disagree with the Air Force's claim in its impact statement that the sonic booms would not adversely affect any one location or land use. Military officials believe one sonic boom would be heard about once every two flying days. Erickson, however, estimated that based on Air Force data on the expanded air space, the number of flights in the test-range air space would increase from 400 per year to about 9,500 sorties.
Rural Alliance director Grace Potorti said the noise analysis in the impact statement "is faulty and does not address the peak overpressures and noise levels associated with sonic booms."
Potorti said the flights would impact wilderness and wilderness-study areas that receive federal protection. Goshute Indian Tribe ceremonies and people living in McGill, Cherry Creek, Lages Station and Curry, all in Nevada, would also be affected. Chaff and flares that pilots use during defensive countermeasures in flight training would litter public and private lands, pose a health risk to humans and add a fire risk to the environment, she said.
Even buildings in the area are at risk of structural damage from sonic booms, the critics contend.
Potorti said she wants the impact statement to be redone and re-released to the public with a corrected noise analysis and dates for more public hearings. Three hearings were held last December in Elko, Ely and West Wendover, Nev.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com