This is a more direct and hopefully informative diary concerning the plans that the US Armed Forces have for the State of Alaska. The US Air Force has big plans, very big:
Location counts — whether you’re buying a home or setting up a joint training range.
Alaskan Command, a subunified command under U.S. Pacific Command, is stitching together more than 100,000 square miles in the 49th state where air, land and sea forces can practice full-scale, all-domain war.
Larger than Wyoming!
The problem is that the "stitching together" is going to cover critical and sensitive wild areas of the State of Alaska, including the Nelchina Herd Calving grounds, the Copper River salmon spawning grounds and the Tanana/Yukon spawning grounds to name a few.
The military is currently in the environmental impact survey (EIS) portion of turning this part of Alaskan wilderness into a training ground which they can fly supersonic aircraft in close proximity with the ground and occasionally crash hazardous waste into it.
JPARC: The Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. When these guys say "Alaska Range" they don't mean the mountains.
One of the state "advantages" of this region is that there aren't many people living here. That is an advantage if you're looking at flying aircraft at supersonic speeds while flying at extreme proximity with the ground while not having many people complain about the activity. Again the Air Force:
"We’re plowing new ground ... as joint stewards of all the capacity here," Hatter said. "The services have done the work here ... and they have built out their capacities. What we’re trying to do is just multiply that effort."
The wide open spaces along with Alaska’s sparse population — the 2008 census estimate was about 700,000 — present an opportunity for a joint training area unlike anywhere else in the world, Hatter said.
"We think we can create a very realistic battle space where we can do ... very realistic rehearsals for a joint task force," he said. "You [can] do air, land and maritime joint interoperability training events because you’ve got the contiguous training space [and] you’ve got all domains to play in. We’ve got all that here in Alaska."
It is empty, this is the McClaren River near the Denali Highway:
And this is what happens west of the McClaren River in the area proposed as "Fox 5 MOA". The Nelchina Caribou herd gives birth to its calves here:
The November 2010 crash of the US Air Force F-22 Raptor is a dramatic and vivid picture of why we do not want these aircraft operating in this environment. The region is covered by tundra with permafrost underlying it. It and all of the hazardous waste that it represents is currently frozen in a pond of its own creation, in the Fox 3 MOA just north of the Denali Highway and the Nelchina Herd calving grounds.
This from Voodoo Warriors blog (linked above):
Air Force officials confirmed that the pilot has been prounced dead. Evidence recovered at the crash site confirms that he did not eject prior to impact, and the crash was not survivable. The investigation and recovery efforts will continue for several weeks. The crash site is in a marshy area that reaches up to 20 below zero at night. The plane's impact created a large crater, which has swallowed up the wreckage and then filled in over it.
That makes this an uncontained hazardous waste site, and I would also point out that the entirety of Fox 3 MOA is either mountainside or "marshy area" which is a pretty good definition of tundra over permafrost. Here is what was left.
From the Anchorage Daily News:
The Air Force reported to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that the jet held about 1,343 gallons of jet fuel and about 100 pounds of lubricants, hydraulic fluid and other miscellaneous fluids, the DEC said. An early report indicated that there was no significant spill threatening the environment, but it was likely too early to tell, said John Brown with the DEC's Spill Prevention and Response Division.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/...
I would argue with the DEC assessment in that no recovery has been possible and that the line in the picture under the pond is a stream. The list of toxic chemicals on board isn't including the highly toxic superstructure of the F-22 airframe. This toxic crater is permanent. It also isn't accounting for the giant gash in the tundra that will be required to reach this site in the spring after the run-off.
Doesn't this look like fun though: maybe it's worth buzzing the baby caribou?
The EIS comment period has been extended to February 18th of 2011. We have a chance to lodge our outrage. After that it will be contacting politicians.
Announcement: The U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, on behalf of Alaskan Command (ALCOM), will continue to accept comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for an additional two weeks through Feb. 18, 2011. The scoping meetings were held to evaluate the potential environmental consequences associated with modernizing and enhancing current military ground and air training assets in Alaska. Written comments received no later than Feb. 18, 2011, will be considered in the preparation of the Draft EIS.
Please comment on the EIS here: http://www.jparceis.com/
P.S. If that hasn't got your dander up then maybe this comment by Colonel Bell will: "the militaries of competing nations such as China and North Korea do not have to ask their countrymen for permission to conduct training exercises". It's nice living in a place where we still have a say.