County to submit comments on Fort Bliss local flying training

ALAMOGORDO — County Commissioners will be submitting the public’s comments on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Fort Bliss local flying area training and also decided to set up a public hearing with Fort Bliss officials as soon as they discuss the training with them.

In May 2016, commissioners were in support of the U.S. Army’s plans to practice flying their aircraft at high altitudes in the Lincoln National Forest (LNF) but now the Army is proposing to fly at lower altitudes over private property and BLM land within the county which has some residents concerned.

When the High Altitude Mountain Environment Training Strategy (HAMETS) was first introduced by the Garrison Command team and 1st Armored Division (1AD) Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB), they proposed to establish a number of sites within the LNF to conduct their new mission for certifying and training their helicopter pilots.

More:Residents express concern over Fort Bliss training in Lincoln National Forest

The purpose of HAMETS was to train pilots to land within wooded mountain environments that challenged their aviator skills.

The three types of helicopters that Fort Bliss soldiers will be training with are the Chinook, Black Hawk and Apache.

County resident Walt Coffman spoke out against the training stating that the Army had some flaws in their EA and was concerned for other residents that reside in the training area.

In July 2016, several other county residents spoke out against the proposed training, including Commissioner Lori Bies, who was running for the County Commission District 3 seat at the time.

“They want to fly at low altitudes now at 100 feet off the ground that involves heavy helicopters I call them that are also quite noisy,” said Coffman. “The Army is proposing to fly over private and BLM land but they made a deal with the Lincoln National Forest that they would not fly that low. During trainings they usually fly at 3,000 feet which is a pretty standard altitude to fly in, it minimizes the impact on people on the ground. The Army now wants to change that from 3,000 feet to 500 feet over special areas and people. Over people, they would fly at 2,000 feet.”

Coffman said that the commission should have some input being they are stakeholders as well as residents and the issues should be brought up to Army officials.

“The EA that proposes these two changes or expansions of Army air spaces is full of flaws and it’s embarrassing to me for the Army to publish it without any input from county commissioners or other stakeholders,” he said. “No county was involved in solicited for scoping, except for federal agencies. Looking at these documents it talks about low altitude training and private property that’s out there. There are many errors that are factually incorrect when it comes to mishaps. While it’s true that there has been virtually no accidents during training there has been accidents at Fort Bliss when it comes to low altitude flying. There will also be ground disturbances as they will be flying over grazing areas and areas where people reside, although they are few.”

Bies said she appreciated Coffman’s comments and was taking them very seriously because she said she is a former Army veteran and knew firsthand the issues people can have with military training and the government.

However, Bies said the commission does support the military but they have to do what’s best for their constituents.

“We are not military unfriendly, we want our Armed Forces to be the best to make it through hazardous situations but we have to make sure our constituents are safeguarded,” said Bies. “With the amount of area they currently have they might have some other options, if they didn’t have options, this would be a different situation”

Commissioners ultimately approved to submit their comments, as well as the public’s, to the U.S. Army and will set up a public hearing after a meeting with them is conducted to further discuss the training.