Military watchdog group to appeal Navy training plan decision

Martin Griffith

Friday, April 21, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A military watchdog group said Thursday that it will appeal a decision to allow the Navy to place two 3-acre fixed electronic warfare sites and 22 smaller mobile electronic sites on public lands in central Nevada.

Grace Potorti, director of the Reno-based Rural Alliance for Military Accountability, criticized the joint decision by the Bureau of Land Management and Fallon Naval Air Station.

She said her group would file an appeal with the BLM's Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington, D.C.

"This is incremental military encroachment by the Department of Defense on public lands and now it's being blessed by the BLM," Potorti said. "They can say what they want, but where's the proof it will have no impact on noise?

"There's no question there's an impact and those impacts will likely increase now."

But after a 15-month planning process, the BLM and Fallon base concluded the sites would provide for the Navy's training needs for pilots while causing no significant effects.

"We're not surprised by the appeal because that's a standard tactic for her (Potorti)," base spokeswoman Anne McMillin said. "The Navy is very, very confident of the merits of this document. We are confident it'll be able to withstand any appeal."

The decision allows the Navy to build the fixed sites in Gabbs Valley just south of Gabbs and in Edwards Creek Valley about 40 miles southwest of Austin.

The BLM rejected the Navy's request to build similar sites in Big Smokey and Smith Creek valleys, both near Austin.

But the decision will allow the 22 mobile, truck-mounted sites to be spread over all four valleys, with no more than six such sites in each valley.

Navy and BLM officials insist the sites would lead to no more noise as there will be no increase in flights.

"It'll enable us to better train with existing flights we have. It'll allow us to better serve our country," McMillin said.

But Potorti said she thinks noise will likely increase. She called on the Navy and BLM to place sound monitors in the valleys to document noise levels.

"We want hard data on what this means to central Nevada and we haven't been given it," she said. "They've been unwilling to put the noise monitors out there."

Potorti said she's also concerned the Navy only will ask for more public land for training down the road.

"The problem is they're encroaching on public land little by little and it all adds up," she said.

But McMillin insisted the Navy won't necessarily need more land in 15 years.

"It all depends on the world situation and the American political environment," she said. "For her to assume we need more, it's highly speculative on her part. We ask for what we need."