Posts Tagged ‘mission support/community partnerships’

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire urged defense support groups from throughout the state to work together as state and local officials try to shield Washington’s installations from a future base closure round and looming budget cuts. Groups representing Pierce and Thurston counties near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Spokane near Fairchild Air Force Base, and Navy communities from Whidbey Island to Bremerton to Everett attended last month’s meeting of the Washington Military Alliance, reported the News Tribune …

The city of Springfield, Ohio, is planning to spend $267,000 to operate the air traffic control tower at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport for another year with a goal of attracting a new mission to the Springfield Air National Guard Base. The Guard’s 178th Fighter Wing stopped supporting air traffic control operations and fire-fighting services at the airport last year when it shifted to a new mission — flying unmanned Predators. Last year the city spent $760,000, including $545,000 in grant funds, to keep the tower running …

Officials at Kirtland Air Force Base say an underground leak of millions of gallons of aviation gas and jet fuel will not contaminate the municipal water supply for Albuquerque. Since the leak, which dates to the late 1950s, was detected in 1999, the Air Force has spent more than $50 million to monitor the plume and build soil vapor extraction units. The leak is estimated to range from 8 million to 24 million gallons …

The Georgia Land Trust has acquired 5,400 acres of land to add to the buffer between the eastern edge of Fort Stewart and rapidly growing urban areas outside the post. The conservation easement acquired by the land trust took advantage of a grant awarded under DOD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative, a program used to preserve compatible land uses and sustain wildlife habitat near military installations and ranges. The conservation easement buffers lands where Fort Stewart conducts frequent prescribed burns to maintain habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers and other endangered species that inhabit the fire-dependent longleaf pine ecosystem, reported the Savannah Morning News. The current property owner will continue to use the tract under a lease agreement for timber production, which is considered a compatible use.

DOD’s Siting Clearinghouse next week will be reviewing a proposed wind farm in eastern North Carolina to determine if the hazard the turbine poses to low-level flights from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base can be mitigated. The 49-turbine Pantego Wind Energy Project, planned for 11,000 acres in Beaufort County by Invenergy, is one of only a dozen projects requiring review by the clearinghouse’s Mitigation Response Team. Following DOD’s Sept. 10 review, the clearinghouse will attempt to resolve the conflict …

Tens of millions of dollars in road projects are under way at three Maryland installations that have gained significant new missions and personnel as a result of the 2005 round of base closures, reports the Baltimore Sun. An $18 million project to upgrade a key intersection leading to Aberdeen Proving Ground recently has begun, with work slated to continue for another year. Average daily traffic on one of the highways passing through the intersection has grown has grown almost 60 percent since the BRAC recommendations were announced. The other highway has experienced an increase in traffic of 3,000 daily vehicles …

The lack of a formal process for developers to notify the military about projects, primarily wind farms, that potentially could interfere with an installation’s operations eventually could threaten the viability of one or more bases in Texas, Capt. Mark McLaughlin, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Kingsville, told the state’s legislature last week. “I am dealing with wind farm developers from multiple companies that are planning to encircle my base with upwards of 1,400 wind turbines …

The Pentagon has not asked the garrison commander of Joint Base Lewis-McChord to craft contingency plans for how the base would accommodate automatic spending cuts slated to go into effect in January and, as a result, he is not certain how the looming cuts would be carried out at the base located south of Tacoma, Wash. “We’re hoping for the best,” Col. Charles Hodges told the News Tribune …

Okaloosa County, Fla., has decided not to amend its zoning regulations or comprehensive development plan to further protect Eglin Air Force Base from approaching development. The County Commission’s unanimous vote last week effectively shelves the $457,000 Tri-County Small Area Studies, which called for lowering the density of zoning and intensity of construction in less developed areas near the base’s Camp Rudder and Duke Field, reported the Northwest Florida Daily News. Residents from affected neighborhoods said changes to the county’s development code threatened their property rights …

In an ongoing effort to protect Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton from restrictions on training, a Southern California land conservancy last week acquired a conservation easement on a 184-acre parcel outside of the installation. The Fallbrook Land Conservancy acquired the easement through DOD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative, a program which supports cost-sharing partnerships between the military services, private conservation groups, and state and local governments to protect military test and training capabilities and wildlife habitats …