Residents Of Maine Gearing Up For Third Fight Against Noise,
Hazards To GA
As government agencies look for ever more ways to tighten
national security, there is increasing push-back from citizens
unwilling to let precautions against hypothetical,
once-in-a-lifetime scenarios degrade their lives 365 days a year.
Such a case is unfolding in Maine, where Governor Paul LePage has
joined residents fighting an Air National Guard proposal for
low-level F-15 (file photo shown) training flights in the mountains
of Western Maine.
The location in question is code-named CONDOR, and the ANG wants
the ceiling for its practice flights dropped from 7,000' to just
500', so F-15 pilots based at Otis AFB in Massachusetts can train
there. The Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) reports a
similar proposal in the early '90s was defeated by overwhelming
opposition from local residents and legislators.
The idea resurfaced five years ago, and MPBN reports Col. Scott
Rice of the Air National Guard's Eastern and Northeastern Airspace
and Range Council called the low-altitude flights essential for
combatting scenarios such as a Middle Eastern oil tanker sitting
off the coast which turns out to be armed with a cruise missile.
That scenario didn't sell in 2007. Now, in 2011, it looks as if
residents are again refusing to buy the idea.
Part of the issue is the danger to small aircraft flying at
low-altitude. In a letter to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt,
Governor LePage says F-15s at 500 feet would be a hazard to general
aviation aircraft "darting to and fro on amphibious floats from
lakes to the numerous small airports and private strips that dot
the area."
For Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who represents
Maine's First Congressional District, it's also about the noise.
"Here we are in a place where people come for the peace and
quiet...It's the equivalent of standing next to a chainsaw or a
jackhammer. It doesn't fit into the Maine landscape and it doesn't
seem like it's a necessary thing to have happen here."
Governor LePage's press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, tells MPBN
that the change, "in the governor's opinion, was based on a want
not a need. That is why the governor opposes this particular
change."
Opponents of the change note there is already an approved
low-altitude training area in the Adirondack Mountains of New York
State, where population densities are lower.
The Air National Guard has not yet produced an environmental
impact statement for its plan. That's expected this fall.