Critics oppose use of public land for Navy rescue training

Friday, May 22, 1998 | 10:31 a.m.

"It's yet another encroachment on Nevada's public lands," said Grace Potorti, director of the Rural Alliance for Military Accountability. "The BLM's assessment raises more questions than it answers."

Fallon Naval Air Station wants to conduct search and rescue training on public land in Churchill and Mineral counties.

"We need access to land with varying terrain where we can put a man or woman out with a radio and send the SEAL teams in to find them," said Anne McMillin, spokeswoman for NAS Fallon. "We want to run some Scott O'Grady drills out there."

O'Grady, a U.S. Air Force captain, was shot down in Bosnia in June 1995. He was rescued six days later.

Potorti agreed the training is necessary, but said the military should use land already under its control.

"The military has 4 million acres in Nevada where this training could be done," she said. "I don't understand why they keep encroaching on more and more public land."

McMillin countered that much of the Navy's land in central Nevada is used for bombing ranges and is unsuitable and dangerous for other operations.

In granting preliminary approval, the BLM said the training would not significantly impact the environment and that activities would not be near private land or recreation sites.

BLM project manager Terri Knutson said the permit approval has not been finalized, and public comments and questions can be submitted to the agency for consideration.

"It's not a done deal," Knutson said. "If we missed something in the process, we want to know about it."