Dear HCN,
While the Air Force is
busy in Nevada, giving lip service and meeting time to ecosystem
management and touchy-feely sound bites, it is forging right ahead
with the destruction of the Owyhee Canyonlands of Idaho (HCN,
3/15/99).
No matter that a broad coalition of
public-interest groups and a majority of Idaho citizens oppose this
action to create a new supersonic battlefield and bombing range.
The Air Force got what it wanted by using strong-arm political
tactics. Their efforts hinged on a tireless argument that, despite
the opinion of Dave Rubenson of RAND, is still prominently used to
this very day: that the Air Force project is needed for national
defense. The Cold War may have ended, but the military is still
“the spoiled child of American society,” Rubenson says, and nowhere
is this more evident than in Idaho. Just this month, promised
funding to monitor the effects of the new bombing range on wildlife
was shifted to fund other Air Force equipment. Additionally, they
have been caught with their pants down on more than one location
where absolutely no surveys for wildlife, cultural and other
resource values had been conducted. The Air Force, despite all its
feel-good rhetoric, has not sat down with the Bureau of Land
Management and interested public groups to talk through the next
steps of this project.
One major difference
between Idaho and Nevada is that Nevada has a state government
willing and capable of holding the military’s feet to the fire.
Unfortunately, Idaho’s elected officials would rather bow down and
worship an F-16 fighter jet than raise one eyebrow questioning the
Air Force’s commitment to the long-term health of and public access
to the Owyhee Canyonlands.
I have a bad feeling
the renewal of Nellis Air Force Base’s withdrawn lands will end up
much like the situation in Idaho. Nevada citizens should be
cautious and take the Navy’s promise with a lot of salt. No doubt
arrangements made in Nevada will not be considered by Congress
during the renewal process of 2001. Concerned citizens should be
wary of backroom deals, making sure the Navy gets an “indefinite
withdrawal” of the lands it uses. I applaud Grace Potorti’s efforts
to keep the renewal limited to 15 years. But don’t hold your
breath. The military has one of the largest budgets with which it
can perpetuate feel-good talk and public relations-facilitated
dialogues, while at the same time, making sure they get what they
really want and then
some.
Lahsha
Johnston
Boise,
Idaho
The writer works for The
Wilderness Society’s Idaho office and is a political science major
at Boise State University.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Don’t trust the military.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
