CALENDAR of EVENTS
The USAF released a REVISED Draft Environmental Impact Statement on May 31, 2013, which incorporated 2010 Census population figures.
As expected, the Revised DEIS shows an alarming increase of thousands more residents and their homes that will be negatively impacted by the F35 basing. The Revised DEIS also incorporated the hundreds of comments that were received by the USAF last year about the basing during the previous public comment period.
Another 45 day public comment period has begun, and until July 15, 2013, folks can send in their concerns about the proposed basing. Many questions that were raised by both the affected municipalities and residents were not answered in the Revised DEIS. In addition, there have been landmark studies by the World Health Organization and other groups which detail in depth the profound negative health effects that result from exposure to the noise levels our neighborhoods will be forced to endure if the F35s are based here.
You may wish to petition the USAF to use current noise studies and the impact on humans instead of the dated, minimal studies that were used in the original DEIS. Another area in which questions have not been well addressed is the issue of public safety and projected crash rates from a newly operational military aircraft.
Remember, there has NEVER before been a newly operation military warplane that has been based in a heavily population residential area. It’s because it is not a matter of if, but when, the F35s will crash and potentially destroy scores of lives and homes.
Your public comments may help force another revision of the DEIS to address new and pressing concerns. We all need to do whatever we can to delay Burlington, VT from being included in this round of basing, and your voice is our best hope.
Please send your comments and concerns before July 15, 2013 to:
Mr. Nicholas Germanos
HQ ACC/A7PS
129 Andrews St., Suite 337
Langley AFB, VA 23665-2769
Or email Mr. Germanos at:
Public Comment Period: May 31, 2013 to July 15, 2013
Public comments will be organized into new DEIS, and Final DEIS will be released mid-September, 2013. The USAF’s basing decision will be revealed in the report.
After a 30 day waiting period, the decision will be final and the Record of Decision will be signed sometime in mid-October, 2013.
Our time is running out to influence this decision. Once the decision has been made, our only alternative will be lengthy and expensive legal action to obstruct the basing.
Please act today!