July 16,2020 - As of this writing, the Air Force has initiated
preparation of the final F-35 EIS which will be available on the
project website and at downtown and south-midtown Tucson libraries
(Eckstrom at Columbus/22d, Murphy at Wilmot/5th, Main at
Stone/Alameda, Douglas at Kino/36th, and Pueblo at Sixth/Irvington).
The Air Force is holding to its estimate that the Draft EIS for the
F-35 operational beddown will be available in late summer or early
autumn of 2020. See the website -- https://www.afrc-f35a-beddown.com/
-- for details.
Thanks to Les Pierce for this info from the MCRC
IMPORTANT UPDATES (NOV 11, 2019):
"The Air Force Civil Engineer Center is currently projecting to release
the Air Force Reserve Command draft F-35A Environmental Impact Survey
in January 2020. They are currently planning to schedule the public
hearing in Tucson on February 4, 2020.
We will provide the MCRC a link to the draft EIS as soon as it is
available and will update you on any changes to this schedule that may
occur."
Helena D'Mellow
Chief of Community Relations
355th Wing Public Affairs
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ
United States Air Force
there actually is already an informative webpage and comment link for the current drafts:
https://www.afrc-f35a-beddown.com/documentation.aspx
And, also, the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and finding of no
significant impact (FONSI) for DMAFB's Personnel Recovery Training
Program (~36MB, 1211 pages) is at --
https://www.dm.af.mil/Portals/99/Docs/Public%20Information%20Docs/D-M%20PR%20Training%20Program%20Draft%20Environmental%20Assessment%209-18-2019%20Reduced%20%281%29.pdf?ver=2019-09-20-144229-120×tamp=1569009405976
Briefly, this program comprises a half-dozen events a year ranging
in size from Small Force activities (fewer than 50 personnel, six
aircraft) to Medium Force (50-100 personnel, up to eighteen aircraft,
four times a year) to Large Force ones (1000 personnel, up to 45 U.S.
and foreign aircraft, twice a year) like the Red Flag Rescue events
(from 5th and 6th pages of document).
________________________________________________________________
https://www.kold.com/2019/09/06/military-plane-accidentally-launches-missile-near-tucson/
TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - An A-10C Thunderbolt II on a training mission accidentally fired a rocket near Tucson early Thursday, Sept. 5.
Davis-Monthan said the rocket, a M-156, hit an uninhabited and remote area near Mount Graham. D-M said it happened in the Jackal Military Operations Area, which is located approximately 60 miles northeast of Tucson.
The M-156 has a warhead that emits smoke and is usually used for targeting, according to several sources.
There were no injuries, damages or fires from the launch.
The incident, which happened around 10:40 a.m., is under investigation.
The A-10C Thunderbolt II was assigned to the 354th Fighter Squadron from the 355th Wing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From rootsaction.org -- Please sign and share widely!! Cancel the F35 - a worldwide petition- copy and paste URL
https://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12514
Cancel the F-35
A petition to the United States Congress and the governments of Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, and Canada from the world and from the people of Burlington, Vermont, and Fairbanks, Alaska, where the F-35 is to be based. Initiated by Vermont Stop the F35 Coalition, Save Our Skies Vermont, Western Maine Matters, Alaska Peace Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks Peace Club, North Star Chapter 146 Veterans For Peace, World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, Code Pink, Ben Cohen. Supported by: Centro Documentazione Manifesto Pacifista Internazionale, International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Nej tak til nye kampfly (in Denmark), Peaceful Skies Coalition (in Santa Fe, NM), Straits Area Concerned Citizens for Peace, Justice, and the Environment (in Michigan).
Please add your name below:
The F-35 is a weapon of offensive war, serving no defensive purpose. It is planned to cost the U.S. $1.4 trillion over 50 years. Because starvation on earth could be ended for $30 billion and the lack of clean drinking water for $11 billion per year, it is first and foremost through the wasting of resources that this airplane will kill. Military spending, contrary to popular misconception, also hurts the U.S. economy (see below) and other economies. The F-35 causes negative health impacts and cognitive impairment in children living near its bases. It renders housing near airports unsuitable for residential use. It has a high crash rate and horrible consequences to those living in the area of its crashes. Its emissions are a major environmental polluter.
Wars are endangering the United States and other participating nations rather than protecting them. Nonviolent tools of law, diplomacy, aid, crisis prevention, and verifiable nuclear disarmament should be substituted for continuing counterproductive wars. Therefore, we, the undersigned, call for the immediate cancellation of the F-35 program as a whole, and the immediate cancellation of plans to base any such dangerous and noisy jets near populated areas. We oppose replacing the F-35 with any other weapon or basing the F-35 in any other locations. We further demand redirection of the money for the F-35 back into taxpayers' pockets, and into environmental and human needs in the U.S., other F-35 customer nations, and around the world, including to fight climate change, pay off student debt, rebuild crumbling infrastructure, and improve education, healthcare, and housing.
https://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12514
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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June 9. Tucson Daily Star Reports that Arizona Air National Guard has contaminated Tucson ground water with PFAS. Read the story in the link to pdf file: PollutionRevised_ang_pfas.pdf
Tucson Environment and Sustainability Mayoral Candidates Forum. Tucson Environment and Sustainability Mayoral Forum
mayor_debate_jets_audio_.m4a May 30, 2019
-- The Sierra Club Rincon Group has joined with nearly a dozen local environmental groups hosted this important forum to have a better understanding of where candidates stand on key environmental and sustainability priorities. Candidates Randi Dorman, Steven Farley, and Regina Romero . One of the last questions related to the military overflights: here is an audio recording of the candidate's answers:
mayor_debate_jets_audio_.m4a
-- Filed May 11, 2018 tucson_forward_scoping_comment_F35.pdf
Information about the current EIS to beddown 24 F35A jets in Tucson.
Here is the AF official info website: http://www.afrc-f35a-beddown.com
other information: http://tucson.com/news/local/davis-monthan-to-issue-study-on-impact-of-bringing-f/article_42481888-4259-5cd1-adb6-0cf982e3d40d.html
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/38034459/air-force-f-35-meeting-has-tucsonans-concerned-about-noise
For background, here is the link to the prior 2014 EIS regarding Tucson as a possible beddown for F35s: http://www.airforcemag.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Reports/2012/June2012/Day13/F-35A_training_basing_EIS_exec_summary_June2012.pdf
Tucson Air National Guard Base and Davis Monthan Air Force Base are both within the City of Tucson. The Tucson International Airport, which is the home of Tucson ANG, is at the south end of the Central Tucson urban area. Davis Monthan AFB is slightly east of TIA. Both are surrounded by urban density. The military flight training involves repetitive take-offs, landings, and circling training of domestic and international military pilots over many high use residential and business areas, schools, churches, parks, and other recreational and shopping areas. The brunt of this training is also at very low altitude levels. Aside from the high decibel levels and the far reaching rumble and thrust of these jets, the fumes, fuels, and risk are not compatible with the desert valley's acoustics and dense population. Flights have become steadily louder and more frequent over the last several decades and include many types of more powerful and/or foreign aircraft that have not been reviewed or approved along the guidelines of federal environmental assessments. The current goal of the Air Force and ANG are to increase flight frequencies, including night flights, bring in much louder aircraft including the F35, bring in drone operations, and loosen restrictions on where military aircraft may fly outside previously approved flight paths. Many parts of Tucson, over the University of Arizona campus and south of there, experience military flights only several hundred feet overhead as they circle around and land at DMAFB. Proponents of these flights claim that the base brings jobs and economic benefits, however, closer analysis shows that the economic income to Tucson is not as great as other areas of commerce, for example tourism. Furthermore, the jobs and economy argument does not take into consideration the diminished quiet enjoyment of our city, the extreme loss of groundwater sucked up by the military bases, the very large blighted and under priced real estate south of Broadway that suffers under the lower altitude flight patterns. That blight significantly reduces the potential property values and, therefore, the property tax bases and attraction value of large areas of Tucson.
Tucson International Airport hosts Tucson Air National Guard Base, a 92-acre (37 ha) complex on the northwest corner of the airport that is home to the 162d Fighter Wing (162 FW), an Air Education and Training Command (AETC)-gained unit of the Arizona Air National Guard. The largest Air National Guard fighter unit in the United States, the 162 FW operates over 70 F-16C/D/E/F aircraft in three operational fighter squadrons. The wing provides training on the F-16 Fighting Falcon, augmenting the active Air Force's 56th Fighter Wing (56 FW) at Luke AFB, Arizona as a Formal Training Unit (FTU) for training Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, Air National Guard and NATO/Allied/Coalition F-16 pilots.
The wing also hosts the Air National Guard / Air Force Reserve Command (ANG AFRC) Command Test Center (AATC) as a tenant unit, which conducts operational testing on behalf of the Air Reserve Component. The 162 FW also hosts "Snowbird" operations during the winter months for Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard F-16 and A-10 units from northern tier bases in the continental United States, as well as Canadian Forces and Royal Air Force flying units.[8][9]
During its history at TUS, the 162nd has operated the F-86 Sabre, F-100 Super Sabre, F-102 Delta Dagger, A-7 Corsair II and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. Not counting students or transient flight crews, the installation employs over 1,700 personnel, over 1,100 of whom are full-time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) and Air Reserve Technician (ART) personnel, and the remainder traditional part-time Air National Guardsmen. Although an AETC organization, the 162nd also maintains an F-16 Alert Detachment for USNORTHCOM / NORAD and AFNORTH at nearby Davis-Monthan AFB in support of Operation Noble Eagle.
Davis–Monthan Air Force Base (DM AFB) (IATA: DMA, ICAO: KDMA, FAA LID: DMA) is a United States Air Force base located within the city limits approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) south-southeast of downtown Tucson, Arizona. It was established in 1925 as Davis-Monthan Landing Field. The host unit headquartered at Davis–Monthan is the 355th Fighter Wing assigned to Twelfth Air Force, part of Air Combat Command (ACC). The base is best known as the location of the Air Force Materiel Command's 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), the aircraft boneyard for all excess military and government aircraft.
Copy of Materials Delivered to DM-AFB/MEDIA Meet and Greet - Tucson August 26, 2015. dm_meet_and_greet_handout_tucson_forward_august_2015.pdf
Tucson Forward, Inc. is a non-profit Arizona corporation dedicated to advancing the safety and welfare of Tucson citizens, residents, and visitors. Our focus on is the environmental, safety, and health dangers caused by the expansion and increases of frequency and decibel levels in -- and encroachment on -- our urban communities by low altitude flight training at Davis Monthan Air Force Base and the Air National Guard located at the Tucson International Airport.
The Comments period to object to the FONSI found in the current EA ended on November 24, 2014.
Tucson Forward released its survey findings on November 10, 2014 to the press, media, politicians and military offices related to the flight training in the Tucson area. The essence of the survey of randomly selected households situated within areas impacted by military flights in the Tucson area showed that there is strong opposition to increasing flight frequency, noise levels, or risks. To find more information about the Survery results and related documents go to our Blog page.
Note that OSB is now called Total Force Training -- new name, same great taste! -- and, predictably, the EA is a beefy tome, available from DMAFB's website --http://www.dm.af.mil/library/tftea.asp -- in segments to keep bandwidth- choke to a dull roar:
* Draft: EA and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) --http://www.dm.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-140922-049.pdf -- [~5.5MB, 142 pages, PDF format], searchable plus maps and other graphics.
The Final Draft has yet to be published: Per the Air Force,
| Subject: | RE: Final EA? |
| Date: | Sun, 10 Apr 2016 19:00:22 +0000 |
| From: | DALRYMPLE, NICOLE M GS-09 USAF ACC 355 FW/PA <nicole.dalrymple@us.af.mil> |
| To: | xx |
Hi Anna,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We were hoping the EA would be ready for release earlier this year but it has not been released yet. We'll most likely do a press release and the document will be posted on our website. Feel free to monitor our website: www.dm.af.mil but you can always reach out to me too. I don’t' have a new estimate on the release date.
Thanks for your patience.
All the best,
Nicole
P.S. The current commander of the 563rd is Col John Lussier.
* Appendix A: Public Notice and Scoping Material --http://www.dm.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-140922-050.pdf -- [~17MB, 416 pages, PDF format], includes some scans (mailed comment letters, newspaper clippings) so is mostly but not entirely searchable.
* Appendix B: Air Quality Calculations --http://www.dm.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-140922-051.pdf -- [~147KB, 32 pages, PDF format], last three pages (emissions inventories for baseline plus two alternatives) are scans of docs, rest is searchable.
* Appendix C: Noise Analysis --http://www.dm.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-140922-052.pdf -- [~12.5MB, 128 pages, PDF format], almost all searchable and worth a look.
* Appendix D: Interagency/ Intergovernemental Coordination and Consultations --http://www.dm.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-140922-053.pdf -- [~534KB, four pages, PDF format], scans of correspondence between DMAFB and the State Historic Preservation Office regarding possible impacts to historic properties.
As DMAFB's press release (below) states, hard copy is also available for review (not for check-out) at some local libraries.
_________
Additional contacts for protest letters:
Contact List
Pentagon Air Force Contacts:
The Honorable James N. Mattis
Secretary of Defense
Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD)
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
1000 Defense Pentagon
Room 3E880,
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Tel. (703)692-7100
The Honorable Heather Wilson
Secretary of the Air Force
U. S. Department of Defense
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington D. C. 20330-1670
The Honorable Gen. Dave Goldfein
Air Force Chief of Staff
U. S. Department of Defense
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Room 4E924
Washington D. C. 20330-1670
General Joseph L. Lengyel
Chief, National Guard Bureau
US Department of Defense
111 S. George Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22204
The Honorable Kathleen Ferguson , Acting Air Force Asst. Sec. for Installations, Environment and Logistics
1665 Air Force Pentagon, Room 4D836
Washington, D.C., 20330-1665
E-mail kathleen.ferguson@pentagon.af.mil
Tel. 1-703-703-697-6300, Fax 1-703-697-3527 (Fax may be best.)
General Mark Welsh, Air Force Chief of Staff
Mark.Welsh@pentagon.af.mil
1-703-693-7837 (note he is going to retire in November of 2014)
The Honorable Deborah Lee James (replaces Terry Yonkers)
Secretary of the Air Force
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20330-1670
Fax (703) 693-9297
Executive officer of the Secretary of the United States Air Force
Toni.j.whaley.mil@mail.mil
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1670
General Michael Hostage III, USAF
Commander, Air Combat Command
205 Dodd Blvd. Suite 100
Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA. 23665-2788
acccc1@us.af.mil
Tel. 757-764-3204
Fax 757-764-3589
Lt. General Burton Field
HQUSAF A-3/5
1630 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1630
General Larry O. Spencer
HQUSAF/CV
Vice Chief of Staff, USAF
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1670
SAF/IGQ Staff USAF
Saf.ig@pentagon.af.mil
Secretary of the Air Force Complaint Resolution Directorate (SAF/IGQ) Hotline
usaf.pentagon.saf-ig.mbx.saf-ig-inspector-gen-hotline@mail.mil
Tucson Arizona Air Force Contacts:
Colonel James P. Meger (replaces Col Blanchard)
Commander of the 355th Fighter Wing DM
e-mail: 355wg.pa@dm.af.mil
Tucson, AZ
520-228-3551
Mobile: 360-7883
Stephen L. Renner, Colonel, USAF
Vice Commander, 355 Fighter Wing
Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ
DSN: 312-228-3551
Comm: 520-228-3551
Mobil: 834-6023
e-mail: 355wgcv@us.af.mil
Colonel Howard Phillip Purcell
Commander of the Air National Guard
162nd Fighter Wing @ TIA
(Replaces McGuire)
520-295-6000
Public affairs 520-295-6192
6201
Michael T. Rawls “Lou”
Colonel USAF ACC 355th FW/CV
e-mail: michael.rawls@us.af.mil
(520) 834-6023
Bruce M. Smith
Colonel, USAF ACC 12 AF/CV
e-mail: bruce.smith.1@us.af.mil
Gen. Tod Wolters (Colonel James P. Meger’s boss)
Commander, 12th Air Force
e-mail: tod.wolters@us.af.mil
520-228-3406
| Scott Hines
D-M Community Initiatives, Chief
Steven.Hines@us.af.mil
355fw.cl@gmail.com
(520) 228-5060
(520) 204-4849 |
| 355 Fighter Wing, Director of Staff
355wg.ds@us.af.mil
Air National Guard Contacts:
Lieutenant General Stanley E. Clark, lll (Sid)
Director, Air National Guard, Pentagon
Washington, DC. Joint Base Andrews, Langley, Maryland
Colonel Howard Phillip Purcell
Commander of the Air National Guard
162nd Fighter Wing @ TIA
e-mail: 162fw.cc@ang.af.mil
162fw.pa.omb@ang.af.mil
520-295-6000
Public Affairs: 520-295-6192
6201
|
Arizona State Contacts:
Britann O’Brien
Director, Governor's Southern Arizona Office
400 West Congress - Suite 504
Tucson, Arizona 85701
bobrien@az.gov
Phone (520) 628-6585
Fax: (520) 628-6512
Jim Marten
Deputy Director, Governor's Southern Arizona Office
400 West Congress - Suite 504
Tucson, Arizona 85701
Phone (520) 628-6584
PIMA County Board of Supervisors:
City of Tucson
Mayor Rothschild Mayor1.CHPO3.CHDOM2@tucsonaz.gov phone: (520) 791-4201
Richard Miranda citymanager@tucsonaz.gov
United States House of Representative
| The Honorable Raul Grijalva
1511 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC20515
Ph (202) 255-2435 Fax (202) 225-1541
The Honorable Raul Grijalva
Tucson District Office
738 N. 5TH Ave, Suite 110
Tucson, Az 85705
Ph (520) 622-6788
Fax (520) 622-0198 | The Honorable Ron Barber
U.S. House of Representatives
1029 Longworth House Office
Building
Washington, D.C 20515
Ph (202) 225-2542 Fax (202) 225-0378
The Honorable Ron Barber
Tucson District Office
3945 E. Fort Lowell Rd., Suite 211
Tucson, Az 85712
Ph (520) 881-3588
Fax (520) 322-9490 |
United States Senate
| The Honorable Krysten Sinema
Senator from Arizona
https://www.sinema.senate.gov/contact-kyrsten
Washington, DC
825 B&C Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4521
Phoenix
2200 East Camelback Road, Suite 120
Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone: (602) 598-7327
| The Honorable Martha McSally
Senator from Arizona
https://www.mcsally.senate.gov/contact_martha
404 Russell Senate Office
Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 224-2235
2201 E. Camelback Rd
Suite 115
Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone (602) 952-2410
407 W. Congress St.
Suite 103
Tucson, AZ 85701
Phone (520) 670-6334 |
| University of Arizona
President
University of Arizona
Administration Building, Room 712
1401 E. University Boulevard
P.O. Box 210066
Tucson, AZ 85721-0066
Tel: (520) 621-5511 Fax: (520) 621-9323
president@email.arizona.edu | |
We need and appreciate your support.
Mail your contribution to
TUCSON FORWARD, PO Box 42472, Tucson, AZ 85733.
