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February 21, 2001
Mr. Sam Dennis, Lead Environmental Planner
Department of the Navy
Engineering Field Activity West
900 Commodore Drive
San Bruno, CA 94066-5006
RE: Proposal To Utilize Fort Hunter
Liggett As An Aerial Bombing Range
Dear Mr. Dennis:
I am responding to your letter of February 12,
2001, informing me of a proposal to utilize a
military range at Fort Hunter Liggett, in Monterey
County, California, as a location for Navy pilots
to carry out aerial bombing practice.
LandWatch believes that the Navy ought to
abandon this proposal immediately. American
taxpayers have spent millions of dollars to acquire
lands in the Ventana Wilderness, and these lands
have been specifically set aside for wilderness
purposes--for preservation in their natural state.
The Navy's bombing range proposal is fundamentally
inconsistent with maintaining adjacent areas as
wilderness, and has already given rise to very
significant public opposition. I hope that you and
others at the Navy will consider this
opposition--and its validity--and will seek more
appropriate alternatives.
If the Navy wishes to continue to consider the
Hunter Liggett site, we believe that a full
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) needs to be
prepared, pursuant to the requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Outlined
below are a number of the key issues that demand
full analysis:
- 1. The project needs to be fully and
accurately described. Newspaper accounts have
given quite different statements about what,
precisely, the Navy is proposing. A full and
forthright description of the number, timing,
and character of each and every air flight
proposed must be the basis upon which the
environmental analysis is carried out, and all
operations at the site, and between the site and
the origination point for the flights, needs to
be documented. A "maximum," or "worst case"
project description must be used as the basis
for the EIS analysis.
- 2. The lands adjacent to the planned range,
including parts of Fort Hunter Liggett itself,
the Ventana Wilderness and the Silver Peak
Wilderness areas, contain sensitive habitat and
sensitive archaeological sites. These lands are
culturally significant to the Esselen and
Salinian peoples. The EIS must fully evaluate
the impacts of the proposed bombing range on
Native American treaty rights, and on the
sacred, ceremonial, traditional, archeological,
historical, and cultural values related to
Native Americans.
- 3. The lands adjacent to the planned range,
including parts of Fort Hunter Liggett itself,
the Ventana Wilderness and the Silver Peak
Wilderness areas, are of exceptional
recreational value. The EIS must fully evaluate
the impact of the bombing range proposal on the
use of the Ventana Wilderness and other areas as
a recreational resource.
- 4. Much hard work has been done over the
years by a number of organizations to preserve
and protect the wilderness habitats along the
Central Coast of California. Two notable efforts
made by the Ventana Wilderness Society and
Monterey Peninsula Audubon have been the
reestablishment of the Bald Eagle and the
reintroduction of the California Condor into the
Ventana Wilderness. The Navy's bombing range
proposal might eliminate quiet and secure
nesting sites; and could also lead to collisions
between Navy airplanes and birds, which rise on
thermals and soar for many miles in search of
food. The EIS needs fully to evaluate the impact
of the proposal on all native wildlife within
the Ventana Wilderness and adjacent areas, and
with particular attention to the effects the
proposal would have on the Bald Eagle and the
California Condor.
- 5. It may be appropriate for parts of Fort
Hunter Liggett to be added to the National Park
system, or designated as a national wilderness
area. The EIS must fully evaluate alternative
uses of Fort Hunter Liggett, and explore how
they would be impacted by the bombing range
proposal.
- 6. The EIS must fully evaluate the impact of
the bombing range proposal on rare, threatened
and endangered species, and must consider
migratory birds and animals as well as species
which inhabit Fort Hunter Liggett, the Ventana
Wilderness, and adjacent lands on a year round
basis.
- 7. The proposal to make numerous jet plane
flights over significant cattle ranching areas
may cause economic and other impacts. All
potential impacts of the proposed bombing range
project on adjacent and affected cattle ranching
areas needs to be fully considered.
- 8. There are significant residential uses in
South Monterey County. All potential impacts on
such residential uses need to be documented in
the EIS.
- 9. The impact of the proposed bombing range
on schools needs to be fully evaluated in the
EIS.
- 10. The EIS must fully evaluate possible
impacts to the Pinnacles National Monument,
which may be affected by jet planes flying from
the Central Valley to the proposed bombing range
on Fort Hunter Liggett.
- 11. Tourism is the second biggest business
in Monterey County, and there is significant
tourism in South Monterey County. The EIS must
fully explore all the potential impacts of the
bombing range proposal on tourism, which can be
significantly affected when jet plane bombing
runs take place nearby peaceful areas that are
attractive to tourists because of their
peacefulness.
- 12. The EIS must fully explore the toxic
impacts that the bombing range proposal may have
on the target area.
- 13. With respect to all areas in which jet
planes may be flying, in connection with the
proposed bombing range proposal, the EIS must
evaluate all of the following:
- a. Toxic releases from the planes and/or
bombs.
b. Noise impacts from the planes and/or
bombs.
c. Effects of air disturbance (vibration
and shockwave impacts).
LandWatch believes that the above is only a
"partial list" of the potential impacts. We urge
the Navy, if it does continue to pursue the idea of
turning parts of Fort Hunter Liggett into a Navy
bombing range, to undertake the most thorough
review possible, and that you maximize the ability
of the public to comment in a full and timely way
on the information developed in the draft EIS.
Thank you for taking our comments into
consideration.
cc: Congress Member Sam Farr
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer
More information is available at the website
of the Ventana
Conservation and Land Trust.
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