Reasons to say no to the F-35….

1. According to the Air Force Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) the F-35 bomber is much louder than the F-16. The EIS also shows that basing the F-35 here will place 1366 additional houses in Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski, Williston and Colchester within the FAA-defined “incompatible with residential use” 65 dB noise level contour. Over 100 homes within that contour have already been demolished in S. Burlington because of F-16 noise. The F-35 will bring half the houses in Winooski and a dozen streets in Burlington within that “incompatible” contour.

According to figures in the EIS, the maximum loudness of the F-35 is more than four times louder than the the maximum loudness of the F-16 both at takeoff and landing. Click here for explanation of maximum noise levels.

2. The draft EIS shows that the negative effect of basing the F-35 in South Burlington will fall disproportionally on low-income and immigrant communities in Burlington and Winooski.

3. A Pentagon report shows that the F-35 bomber program will cost $1.45 trillion and that each plane will cost $135 million, all money needed for jobs in education, health care, sustainable development and infrastructure. A U. Mass. study shows that military spending creates half as many jobs as spending on health care, education, mass transit, and insulating houses, diverting money to the F-35 will leave many more people unemployed.

4. The EIS and an Air Force video describe the F-35 bomber as a weapon mainly for penetrating enemy air space and delivering 18,000 pounds of air-to-ground bombs and missiles. This means the mission of the F-35 is not to defend the US but for more attacks on countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.

5. Property Values: The Air Force draft EIS reports that studies conclude “that decreases in property values usually range from 0.5 to 2 percent per dB increase in cumulative noise exposure;” According to the numbers in the Air Force draft EIS the decrease in property values for houses experiencing the 21 dB increase in loudness is likely to be in the range from 11{33979494efa9b9c28f844b5c37a1ddedf4bb90a2eb3dac7a83ede58b7eac2e67} to 42{33979494efa9b9c28f844b5c37a1ddedf4bb90a2eb3dac7a83ede58b7eac2e67}.

**The Air Force and Vermont’s leading politicians are currently unconcerned about these impacts—if enough people speak out we can change their minds!