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[Here] is a letter from Sierra Club Rincon Group, based in Tucson, Arizona, opposing stationing a squadron of F-35s at Davis-Monthan AFB because of the extreme noise that it would bring to our city and for other reasons. Please consider this letter in response to the "Final Environmental Impact Statement" -- that was recently released. We are asking for a Supplemental EIS to address these concerns -- prior to preparation of the Record of Decision on this project.

 

~ Meg Weesner

Rincon Group Chair

Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter

Excerpt from formal letter by Meg Weesner: "Re: AFRC F-35A Final Environmental Impact Statement"... (Sept 7, 2020)

The Sierra Club Rincon Group has more than 5,000 members in southern Arizona, most of them in the greater Tucson area. We are opposed to stationing a squadron of F-35s at Davis-Monthan AFB. We believe that the Final EIS has not adequately addressed the issues of noise, air pollution, safety, and environmental justice that we described in our comments during scoping.

Through written statements and oral testimony, Tucson residents have detailed the deficiencies of the AFRC Draft EIS. In its Final EIS, the Air Force has failed to correct many of the deficiencies.

Though an improvement over earlier Air Force environmental reviews that affect Tucson residents, the AFRC FEIS does not substantively address many of the errors and shortcomings that Tucson residents and Sierra Club had identified. The outstanding deficiencies are too numerous to detail in this letter.

Each deficiency can be easily identified by comparing the original public comments against the responses in FEIS Volume 2 Section A.2, and the changes (or lack of changes) made to Volume 1.

Some of the public comments include detailed technical analyses. Most of the comment summaries of Section A.2 ignore these analyses, as do the Section A.2 responses.

Many Section A.2 responses are vague answers to very specific public comments. Other responses attempt to justify flawed DEIS assertions, which are retained in the FEIS.

The Air Force must correct the deficiencies in full, which will likely require a Supplemental EIS.

The Record of Decision must not be released until an SEIS has been completed, and the Air Force decision-makers have had time to review it and rewrite the Record of Decision.

 

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