Says Davis-Monthan AFB Is 'Too Loud' And Harming Their Health

A handful of residents living near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona have filed a lawsuit in an effort to force the Air Force to conduct a new environmental impact study on noise near the base.

The Air Force Times reports that the plaintiffs, Ornelas, Gary Hunter and Anita Scales, are seeking to have the AF reissue the EIS because the assessment was "not adequately performed," according to the residents' attorney John Cardillo.

The suit stem from an Air Force decision in May of last year for a Total Force Training Mission which would increase the number of sorties from the base to include visiting units. The number of sorties would increase to 2,326 per year according to court documents. Cardillo said that some of the data used in the EIS released the same month as the approval of increased traffic understates the impact of that increase. She said Air Force "tried to minimize the impact."

The plaintiffs also allege that the Air Force did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires a "detailed environmental statement before undertaking any 'major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.'"

In an email to the Air Force Times, a spokesman for the base said that "Davis-Monthan Air Force Base fully complied with all applicable laws when conducting its Total Force Training Environmental Assessment."

The Air Force has 60 days to respond to the complaint.

The court documents say that the plaintiffs are seeing "an award of costs and attorney's fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act.”

FMI: www.azd.uscourts.gov