In southern Colorado’s isolated Wet Mountain Valley, a former county commissioner is hoping nearly eight years of effort will keep the area free from more low-flying military planes. “If we’re concerned about our peace and quiet, our lifestyle, our agricultural community and our wildlife, then we’d better stand up and let the military know,” says […]
Military
Posted inApril 13, 1998: Oil clashes with elk in the Book Cliffs
Military wants to grow its Western empire
Imagine a giant spider – a creepy crawler 10 times bigger than King Kong – that could spin a web across the West’s great open spaces, linking every military training range in eight states. That’s how some citizens and environmentalists view a bevy of proposals by the U.S. Department of Defense to enhance combat readiness […]
Posted inApril 13, 1998: Oil clashes with elk in the Book Cliffs
Training and bombing range expansions at a glance
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to a news article,”Military wants to grow its Western empire.” Arizona Military wants increased training at Yuma Proving Ground; long-range renewal of the 2.6 million acre Barry Goldwater Range. California Proposed expansion of National Training Center at Fort Irwin, including military […]
Posted inOctober 27, 1997: Deconstructing the age of dams
Germany targets U.S. airspace
The German Air Force has trained quietly over the American Southwest for 30 years. Now, a proposed bombing range for German planes has attracted the ire of ranchers and environmentalists. The U.S. Air Force, which manages the training program, wants to put the targets on part of the McGregor Range in southern New Mexico. The […]
Posted inOctober 27, 1997: Deconstructing the age of dams
Tooele sputters through first year
-You don’t start a $500 million piece of equipment and expect it to hum like a jewel the first time you turn it over. It’s gonna have bugs in it,” says Gary Griffith, a county commissioner in Tooele County, Utah. He’s talking about the Army’s chemical weapons incinerator 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, […]
Posted inOctober 27, 1997: Deconstructing the age of dams
Luftwaffe, go home
The noise began as an explosion, then quickly matured into the scream of engines. Racing across the sky, provenance obscured by speed, the jet rocketed away, leaving the blast echoing in my skull like a loose tire iron. Count me among the 13 percent of residents in areas of rural New Mexico, Texas and Arizona […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
Prairie dogs tunnel their way to a military stalemate
HELENA, Mont. – The Montana Army National Guard has stood ready when called upon to fight any foe. Then it met the prairie dog. The rodents, known for their intricate tunneling, have expanded their stronghold here at Fort Harrison, threatening underground power lines and communications systems. The guard would like to take action, but it’s […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Shutdown attempts go up in smoke
-It’s like standing on the dock and watching the Titanic set out to sea,” says Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based organization that monitors chemical weapons activity around the U.S. “Nobody wants to listen to us.” Williams is talking about the chemical weapons incineration plant in remote Tooele, Utah, (HCN, 9/16/96) […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
It’s back
For the fourth time, the U.S. Air Force has released its draft environmental impact statement for a new electronic combat and bombing range in the Owyhee Canyonlands of southern Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. The Air Force currently makes 7,500 sonic and subsonic annual flights over the Owyhee Canyonlands. The Air Force says the […]
Posted inDecember 9, 1996: Motorheads: The new, noisy, organized force in the West
Rein in those planes
Anyone who has had their solitude blasted by the sudden scream of low-flying military jets while hiking in the West will want a copy of the 24-page Citizen’s Guide to Opposing Military Airspace Expansion. While the military has downsized its airfleet almost by half since the demise of the Soviet Union, it continues to seek […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Bombs go up in smoke in a rural Utah county
On the morning of Aug. 22, giant furnaces sparked into life in Tooele County, 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Inside the infernos, M-55 nerve gas rockets were reduced to shrapnel and smoke. But three days later, the destruction of chemical weapons abruptly halted after traces of nerve gas were detected in a […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Idaho air base guns for more space, again
If cats have nine lives, how many lives do bombing range expansions have? Air Force officials hope their plan for an air training and dummy bomb range in southwest Idaho has at least three. In a series of meetings early this month, Mountain Home Air Force Base unveiled its third training-range expansion plan. Air Force […]
Posted inJune 10, 1996: Outdoor Education
Silence could be shattered by military jets
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news story, “Military in a dogfight for crowded skies.” Brother Erik’s days at the Spiritual Life Institute in Crestone, Colo., rely on peace and quiet for contemplative meditation. “We base our life on silence and solitude,” he says. He […]
Posted inJune 10, 1996: Outdoor Education
Military in a dogfight for crowded skies
After spending three years and $1.5 million on environmental studies, the Colorado Air National Guard is once again promoting its plan to increase fighter-jet training over southeastern Colorado. Because the Guard lost some of its mock combat areas to Denver International Airport, the “weekend warriors’ say they need to make up the difference over southeastern […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Healing a dirty town
Chip Ward, an environmental activist from Grantsville, Utah, started the West Desert Healthy Environment Alliance (HEAL) because citizens noticed abnormally high rates of illness in town. But when the group approached the state Bureau of Epidemiology for information, the agency said that though cancer rates were high, its research showed no discernible pattern among the […]
Posted inMarch 4, 1996: Who owns these bones?
Tooele loses support
A plan to incinerate chemical weapons at the Tooele Army Depot in western Utah just lost a longtime champion: the Tooele County Commission. Although the county’s economy depends heavily on the military, commissioners revoked earlier approval of the project, saying adequate safety measures weren’t yet in place. Some 50 residents and county officials expressed similar […]
Posted inMarch 4, 1996: Who owns these bones?
Nevada county to Army: Take this smog and shove it
An explosion rips the afternoon calm and from a barren hillside flames shoot 50 feet into the air. A shimmering cloud lofts to 10,000 feet and drifts east over the western edge of the Great Basin. Minutes later the blast repeats – 13 times. This is an everyday event at the Sierra Army Depot in […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Utah escapes missiles
Utah escapes missiles The U.S. Army has decided not to proceed with a plan to launch ballistic missiles from Green River, Utah, and shoot them down over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The decision, announced March 21, “is great news for southern Utah,” says Scott Groene, an attorney with the Southern Utah […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Folk hero has a pure white vision
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. The fight against the MX missile was a turning point in the Great Basin, the first time the region said a resounding “no” to a major federal pork-barrel project. The Great Basin MX […]
Posted inNovember 28, 1994: Beauty eludes the beast
Victory in Idaho: Canyon lovers defeat the military
The Air Force’s decision Oct. 6 to back off on building a new bombing range in the Owyhee canyonlands is a victory – and therefore shocking. Who would have thought that a coalition of local and national environmentalists, hunting groups and a few members of Congress could stop the military and Idaho’s forceful Gov. Cecil […]