Paul Fleckenstein and Alex Buckingham, August 2012
HUNDREDS OF northern Vermont residents are campaigning against U.S. Air Force plans to base the new F-35 bomber at the Burlington, Vt., airport–and they’re getting fierce opposition for their activism from the primary backers of the plan, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy and the rest of Vermont’s Democratic Party establishment.
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.