SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - With a U.S. Air Force decision likely imminent on whether to establish an enormous bomber training area over the Northern Plains, U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said she urged a senior Air Force official to consider the expansion’s impact on civilian aircraft, businesses and medical facilities.
The North Dakota Democrat said she has been reassured about the proposed expansion of the Powder River Training Complex over the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming.
“I’m encouraged by the Air Force’s commitment to answer those communications concerns and heed the economic needs of impacted communities,” she said.
A decision could come in the next few weeks, and then it would go before federal aviation regulators for authorization.
Heitkamp said she’s been concerned about civilians communicating easily with the Air Force about the expansion and how it would affect medical facilities, agricultural producers and other businesses. Officials from Montana have also raised significant concerns about the expansion, saying the bombers would disrupt rural communities and scare livestock as they roar overhead on maneuvers, dropping flares and chaff.
“People in North Dakota are incredibly pro-Air Force,” Heitkamp told The Associated Press. “It’s not for lack of patriotism or lack of willingness to work though these problems.”
The proposed expansion would quadruple the training airspace, making it the largest such area over the continental United States. It would be used by B-1 bombers at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and B-52 bombers at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune, who has been working on the proposal since 2006, has the said the expansion would also provide an additional layer of protection against Base Realignment and Closure for Ellsworth, which is a significant economic driver for the Rapid City area. Heitkamp said the project will impact more than just South Dakota.
“They’ve got the Bakken out there, and so some of the same concerns that Montana has raised, I suppose they’re hearing a little bit about from western North Dakota,” Thune said. “But if you think about … what that means for a base like Minot where you’ve got B-52s, and if you’re trying to keep a base open, one of the principal issues you’re going to have to deal with is training areas.”
The Air Force acknowledged in a study released Nov. 28 that the low-altitude flights and loud sonic booms have the potential to startle ranchers, recreationists and those living on reservations in the region. Heitkamp said if the Air Force adequately implements the proposal officials shared with her, she’ll rest easier.
“If what we saw in planning becomes a reality, I think people in North Dakota will be grateful for that attention to general aviation that the Air Force has put into this plan,” she said.
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