Posted on 03/31/2017 6:41:14 PM PDT by SandRat
PHOENIX — Claiming they have been treated with "contempt,'' an attorney for residents near Davis Monthan Air Force Base is telling a judge he needs to order the Air Force to conduct a full-blown environmental impact statement on the effects of flight operations there.
In new court filings, Joy Herr-Cardillo said the military in 2012 did do a less formal "environmental assessment.'' It concluded there would be no significant impact on those living in and around the flight path of the Tucson facility.
But she told U.S. District Court Judge Javier Soto the assessment was flawed because it used 2009 as a base year for comparison. That, said Herr-Cardillo, failed to consider the cumulative impact of what's been happening at the base since 1978 when the base became the center of "Operation Snowbird'' training operations.
And she said what the Air Force did acknowledge glosses over — and she believes ignores — the impact that the flight operations have on children who live in and go to school in the area.
The Air Force, in a previous response after the lawsuit was filed last year, has denied it has done anything wrong and asked that the case be dismissed. This new filing tells the judge there is more than sufficient evidence to rule on his own that the military did not comply with federal environmental laws and order the study done right.
Attorneys for the government have until May 15 to respond.
There have been questions and complaints for decades about noise from the base.
Herr-Cardillo said what prompted the lawsuit were reports that there would be F-35 training at the base. The latest generation of jets is known to be particularly noisy.
As it turned out, Tucson got passed over as a training site.
But she said what neighbors discovered in researching the issue is that a lot had changed since the original "Operation Snowbird'' operations had started in the 1970s, the last time the Air Force actually looked at the impact of its operations on the base's neighbors.
Operations Snowbird was originally designed to provide training time for pilots from northern states during the winter.
But what's happened since then, according to Herr-Cardillo, is that Operation Snowbird became a year-round activity. And the type of aircraft used also changed.
Only thing is, she said, is the Air Force never considered the effect of all that additional air traffic on the neighbors, something she said it was required to do.
And even the "environmental assessment'' that was done — the one Herr-Cardillo said incorrectly relied on 2009 flight operations — concluded there was "no significant impact'' from base operations.
All that, the attorney said, ignored and continues to ignore what is happening, particularly in the Julia Keen neighborhood which is immediately north of the runway. For example, she said, the increase in noise from the original operations resulted in the closure of the school in that neighborhood in 2004.
And Herr-Cardillo said even when there were plans for F-35 training at Davis Monthan, "the Air Force has not been inclined to recognize, let alone ameliorate, the direct harm it is inflicting on its neighbors.''
She cited an email from Scott Hines, who was the base's representative on the city's Military Community Relations Committee, to Lt. Col. Kevin Eilers, commander of the training squadron at the base. Hines suggested the Air Force was "overreacting'' to noise issues and that the influence of those who oppose operations at the base "has lessened by their own continued rhetoric.''
Herr-Cardillo told the judge he needs to consider that in determining whether there has been compliance with federal laws.
"This obvious contempt for the members of the community most affected by the base's proposal to further expand visiting unit operations by the very person that the Air Force has designated as its community liaison certainly calls into question whether the environmental assessment was prepared in good faith,'' she wrote.
All that, Herr-Cardillo said, goes to the "inadequacy'' of the assessment.
It starts, she said, with the requirement that the Air Force must consider the cumulative impact of all its operations on the neighbors, not just whether some new program.
"Significance cannot be avoided by terming an action temporary or by breaking it down into small component parts,'' Herr-Cardillo wrote. And she said the cumulative impacts matter because "there comes a point where even a marginal increase can have significant impacts.''
If nothing else, the attorney said the Air Force is required to consider what things it can do to keep the effects on residents to minimum, something she said is required by law. She particularly cited those areas where noise levels are 70 decibels, described as things like a television set on loud or a vacuum cleaner.
"Certainly at this point, the people living in what is now a 70db zone are entitled to have the U.S. Air Force, at the very least, consider whether there are any measures it might take to mitigate the noise that it has foisted on those residents,'' she wrote.
That base has been there for years.
Everybody who moved into the area knew it was there.
They knew jets make noise.
This never ceases to amaze me. People move in next to an airport and then complain about the noise.
Active Duty ping.
Sometimes the sound of freedom is eclipsed by the hoped for sound of greenbacks from a successful lawsuit.
How long has Davis-Monthan been in existence? No sympathy here. None.
When I was there in the ‘60s it was in the middle of the desert and there were no houses nearby. They all knew what they were getting when they built/bought houses there.
Pull out the jets and put in helicopters. Now those things make noise.
1927.
They've only had jets since 1953. So anyone who has lived there since 1952 deserves a bit of sympathy. Folks that haven't lived in the same house near the base for at least 65 years deserve none.
It was built in 1925. When did the residents move in?
I grew up near Selfridge ANG Base. F4, F16, A10, C130, KC135’s flew over frequently. I survived.
I now live near Aberdeen proving grounds. Planes and helicopters fly over daily. Yesterday, one was so low, it seemed turbulence from the rotor blades shook my shingles.
Frequent explosions shake the house.
We survive and and relish the sound of freedom.
I grew up under that pattern.
I remember B-36’s and B-29’s flying over us in the 50’s.
B-47’s and B-52’s in the early 60’s.
The huge F-4 Wing moved there in 64 or 65, forget which. They would launch NW over town all day long heading to the Gila Bend Gunnery Range as it was called then. Occasionally go supersonic on their way out, it wasn’t a big deal then. Shake the windows as they went to full mil power with the AB’s on.
Even saw Tomcat or two in the early 70’s. Then the A-10’s.
That base and those aircraft are pretty much the reason Tucson existed for the last 70 years. It was there when my family moved there in 1940. My mom remembered the B-17s training there during the war.
The attorney b***h and her outraged buddies can move to Marana. Real quiet out there. Except when some of the aerobatic people fly over out of Marana Regional, and upset her sensitive ears.
To me growing up I loved it. I woke up in the morning listening to F-4’s doing preflight power checks all the way at the end of 13643’ long Runway 12-30. They were 12 miles from me and I could hear them.
Still love it.
Screw her and the burro she rode in on.
And that barracks was of WWII vintage and no where near as sound proofed as a normal new construction home.
Cry me a river of tears to swim in.
Of course she knew that when they bought the house and she says that in time you get used to it.
And when I visit I rush out of the house when I hear them because it's such an impressive sight.
I was around the corner from DM at the Pima Air Museum last month. First time I was in that area in about 15 years. I was shocked to see suburbs slammed up all around that area. FRegards.
I am from Tucson and grew up near D-M when it was a SAC base and had B-52’s stationed there. I also remember the U-2’s, F-100’s, F-105’s and Phantoms flying over Tucson. We used to ride our bikes out to the edge of the base to feel the rumble of the B-52’s taking off. The Phantoms used to fly over Tucson with the afterburners on, no one gave it a second thought. If I remember correctly, the bee has been there since 1941.
Another round of Base Realignment will settle this beef by closing the base.
Bring back the B-36 and the B-58. Those planes can wake the dead.
I hate retards who move next to an airfield and then complain about the noise. It’s like, they just woke up one day and noticed that they had moved next to an airfield. It’s the sound of freedom. Love it or move your airhead ass to Canada.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.