The U.S. Army still plans to eject missile debris
over Utah, but wants to adjust its aim. Many residents of Moab,
Utah, as well as environmentalists from elsewhere, protested an
earlier plan to drop 1-ton missile boosters northeast of a heavily
visited area in Canyonlands National Park (HCN, 4/19/94). Now the
Army proposes to allow its missile boosters to fall from the sky
farther south. By targeting San Juan County instead, the Army says
it won’t have to occasionally close Interstate 70 or evacuate as
many people from Canyonlands and nearby areas. Critics say the new
plan is little improvement over the old one. “It looks like the
Army’s only criterion for making new drop zones was to find a
county with commissioners to support it,” says Scott Groene, staff
attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. The Army plans
to launch up to 100 missiles between 1995 and 2000, to test weapons
similar to the Patriot missile used in the Gulf War.
To receive a copy of the inch-thick Theater
Missile Defense Extended Test Range: Supplement to the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement, or to comment by Sept. 28, write
David Hasley, U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command,
CSSD-EN-V, Box 1500, Huntsville, AL 35807-3801. To record a request
for more information, call 1/800-603-3030.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Incoming.
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