Heinrich, Luján, Vasquez Raise Community Concerns on Proposed Air Force Airspace Changes Over Southwestern New Mexico

WASHINGTON - In a letter to top U.S. Air Force leadership, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, raised concerns over several proposed changes for training missions at U.S. Air Force installations in Arizona that could impact airspace over the Gila National Forest, as well as the Coronado National Forest, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in southwestern New Mexico's Bootheel Region.

The lawmakers sent their letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Air Force Chief of Staff General David W. Allvin to raise their concerns regarding proposed changes to the Reserve, Morenci and Tombstone Military Operations Areas (MOAs). In their letter, the lawmakers urged the Air Force to extend the public comment deadline for an additional 60 days to ensure they can adequately receive community feedback from all those who could be impacted in southwestern New Mexico.

The lawmakers wrote: "An extension is crucial to ensuring our constituents are afforded the opportunity to provide meaningful comments on the proposal. While these public hearings were announced on the EIS Air Force website, we are concerned the Air Force did not effectively nor actively publicize the draft EIS nor the dates and locations of the public hearings in Reserve, Lordsburg, Animas, and Silver City, New Mexico, and surrounding areas that could be impacted by the proposed changes as well."

They continued: "Posting the public notice in the Federal Register is not enough. The lack of sufficient notice and the abbreviated public comment period makes it difficult for interested parties to understand the proposal, digest the available information, and identify concerns. Therefore, we also urge you to conduct a robust outreach plan to our communities directly impacted and surrounding the direct impact areas."

The lawmakers also raised specific and significant concerns about proposed changes that will significantly lower the altitude floors for aircraft flying at supersonic speeds from 30,000 feet Above Ground Level (AGL) to 10,000 or even 5,000 feet AGL and also allow military aircraft to fly low-level sorties over BLM wilderness areas in southwestern New Mexico as low as 100 feet AGL. Additionally, they raised concerns about proposals to allow the use of flares at a proposed 2,000 feet AGL, down from the current 5,000 feet AGL, creating a dangerous threat of fires in hard-to-reach terrain.

The lawmakers concluded: "We remain committed to supporting the Air Force's mission and necessity to train aircrew and maintain readiness. As you proceed through the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) process, we urge you to extend the public comment deadline for an additional 60 days to ensure the public is given full opportunity to provide comment and feedback, conduct a robust outreach plan for New Mexicans in the impacted areas and adjacent to impacted areas, and expand public hearing locations to areas adjacent to impacted areas."

Heinrich, Luján, and Vasquez have worked to ensure that military installations are responsive to their neighboring New Mexico communities' needs and concerns. This includes standing with the local stakeholders in southwestern New Mexico when Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, N.M. proposed similar changes to its airspace agreements for military aircraft training locations in 2021. In that case, the Air Force leadership ultimately listened to the community's concerns and decided to not increase training activity over treasured public spaces like the Gila National Forest. Additionally, Heinrich, Luján, and Vasquez have fought to strengthen our national security and boost economic development in Southern New Mexico, including helping secure the U.S. Air Force's decision to permanently base a training squadron of 26 F-16 fighter jets at Holloman Air Force Base.

Throughout his time in Congress, as a previous member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, and as a current member and past Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Heinrich has been proud to champion New Mexico's military installations and defense missions. He has successfully secured more than $1.5 billion of military construction funding for defense installations in the state during his tenure in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

The lawmakers' full letter can be found below and here.

Dear Secretary Kendall and General Allvin:

On August 9, 2024, the Air Force published the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Regional Special Use Airspace Optimization to support Air Force Missions in Arizona and New Mexico. This announcement formally opened the window for public review and comment up until October 9, 2024, as well as in-person and virtual hearings for constituents to provide feedback. These hearings are imperative to ensuring our constituents are informed of the proposed changes and that they are afforded the opportunity to voice feedback and concerns. We write to share our concerns regarding the proposed changes to the Reserve, Morenci and Tombstone Military Operations Areas (MOAs) and request that you extend the public comment deadline for an additional 60 days.

An extension is crucial to ensuring our constituents are afforded the opportunity to provide meaningful comments on the proposal. While these public hearings were announced on the EIS Air Force website, we are concerned the Air Force did not effectively nor actively publicize the draft EIS nor the dates and locations of the public hearings in Reserve, Lordsburg, Animas, and Silver City, New Mexico, and surrounding areas that could be impacted by the proposed changes as well. During the initial 2022 scoping period, we urged the Air Force to expand public hearing locations and the manner in which you publicly circulated notice of public hearings being held, especially in rural locations where access to reliable internet can be sparse. We appreciate your willingness to heed our concerns during the scoping period and urge you to extend the current public comment period for these same reasons.

Additionally, posting the public notice in the Federal Register is not enough. The lack of sufficient notice and the abbreviated public comment period makes it difficult for interested parties to understand the proposal, digest the available information, and identify concerns. Therefore, we also urge you to conduct a robust outreach plan to our communities directly impacted and surrounding the direct impact areas.

Finally, the Air Force needs to widen the aperture for engagement with respect to communities that will be impacted by this action. Many small towns around the effected MOAs are interconnected. This means that even those who do not live directly under the airspace utilize the impacted land for hunting, recreation and other purposes.

While we understand and support the Air Force's requirement to effectively train aircrew and maintain combat readiness, it is important to note that this Airspace Optimization project proposes changes that will affect airspace over the Gila National Forest, Coronado National Forest, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in southwestern New Mexico's Bootheel Region.

In particular, we have serious concerns over the proposed changes that will significantly lower the altitude floors for aircraft flying at supersonic speeds from 30,000 feet Above Ground Level (AGL) to 10,000 feet AGL or 5,000 feet AGL, respectively. The draft EIS does not adequately protect the dozens of endangered and threatened species that live in habitat below the airspace. In addition, we are concerned about the proposed changes for the Tombstone MOA to lower altitude floors to 100 fee AGL. This will allow military aircraft to fly low-level sorties over BLM wilderness areas in southwestern New Mexico. Lastly, we are deeply concerned about the use of flares at the proposed 2,000 feet AGL, down from the current 5,000 feet AGL, creating a dangerous threat of fires in hard-to-reach terrain.

We remain committed to supporting the Air Force's mission and necessity to train aircrew and maintain readiness. As you proceed through the EIS process, we urge you to extend the public comment deadline for an additional 60 days to ensure the public is given full opportunity to provide comment and feedback, conduct a robust outreach plan for New Mexicans in the impacted areas and adjacent to impacted areas, and expand public hearing locations to areas adjacent to impacted areas.

Sincerely,

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