As technological advancements shape the face of modern warfare, the U.S. Navy says it needs to adapt its training to keep its aviators up to speed.
That’s understandable. But a new bill that would provide more than 600,000 acres of public land to expand Naval Air Base Fallon in central Nevada for long-range weapons exercises is not the answer.
Offered by Rep. Mark Amodei, the lone Republican in Nevada’s congressional delegation, the bill serves up a huge expanse of central Nevada for bombing. This includes ancestral Native American lands, environmentally sensitive areas and acreage currently being used for recreation. Combined with existing training ranges, the expanded acreage would allow the Navy to drop ordnance on about three-quarters of a million acres, an area about half the size of Delaware.
The bill flies in the face of overwhelming opposition to the expansion. It’s been criticized by Native American communities in the region, hunters, miners, ranchers, conservation groups, environmentalists and advocates for Nevada’s outdoor tourism industry, to name a handful of opponents.
In March 2019, Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a joint resolution formally opposing the expansion. And during a public meeting on the expansion early this year, not one person outside of the Navy spoke in favor of it.
For Amodei to propose the bill anyway is outrageous. Worse yet, his proposal also contains sops for private developers in the form of land conveyance provisions that would allow developers to obtain public land for residential, industrial and commercial purposes.
“This bill is a huge public lands giveaway to the military and private developers,” said Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “(Amodei is) willing to give away the heart of some of the nation’s wildest desert, which is home to bighorn sheep, mule deer, golden eagles and sage-grouse.”
What’s driving the expansion proposal is the development of smart weapons, which can be fired farther away from targets and from higher altitudes than conventional ordnance. The Navy wants more territory to allow its pilots to deploy weapons from greater distances, and to create a larger safety buffer zone.
The need for this kind of training is understandable, but Nevada shouldn’t have to give up so much precious public land to make it happen.
And while Amodei included conservation elements in the bill, those can best be described as greenwash.
“Much of the conservation is designating rocky mountain peaks as wilderness areas,” Donnelly said. “While these peaks are aesthetically pleasing to humans and good habitat for bighorn sheep, the more biodiverse areas are in the valleys, where the military is taking over and counties are getting to sell public lands. The valleys are where the sage-grouse are, where the migratory birds are, where the precious desert springs are. “
Nevadans are proud to be the home of the base, where the Navy’s Top Gun air combat training program is headquartered, and we have a strong history of supporting the armed services.
But as the site of nearly 1,000 nuclear tests, Nevada has done way more than its share as a bombing range.
The Navy needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out another way to carry out its training.
Amodei, meanwhile, needs to withdraw his bill. And start listening to Nevadans.