1/17/15

Move B1s to Malmstrom or Minot

Rapid City likes having billions of dollars injected into his economy by the federal government as do Wyoming and Montana.
Montana government officials are on the attack and South Dakota officials are playing defense as federal agencies consider approval of the Powder River Training Complex. Leading the fight from both sides of the Montana-South Dakota border are the states’ senior U.S. senators, Jon Tester, D-Mont., and John Thune, R-S.D. Thune has been working eight years to get the airspace expansion approved. Meanwhile, Tester’s office says he’s been working against it just as long. Tester’s opposition to the Ellsworth-related project puts him in the crosshairs of not only Thune, but also other other South Dakota politicians. [Seth Tupper, Rapid City Journal]
Tester and newly elected earth hater Sen. Steve Daines pledged to introduce an amendment to the bill creating TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline that would block low-level flights over parts of their state. Since President Obama has pledged to veto any bill that would create the climate killing pipeline that Democratic Senator Tester supports he would have to vote to overturn to implement the amendment he added to prevent flyovers at the proposed Baker, Montana on ramp.

After the 1997 crash of a B1-B in Carter County a responding volunteer firefighter from Alzada told this interested party the multi-million dollar aircraft was brought down by a rancher with a .30-30 Winchester. Just miles away another multi-million dollar bomber augured in recently as did a private aircraft.

Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, an important figure in national security and commander of the 20th Air Force and based at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming was recently fired. Overall, Carey was responsible for three wings of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles: 9,600 people and 450 missiles in all. Several Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile units have drawn increased scrutiny lately: in August the Inspector General gave a failing grade to the 341st Missile Wing based at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and a March inspection led the Air Force to decertify some members of the 91st Missile Wing based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota will likely never vote for a Democratic president. Closing Ellsworth but leaving Warren, Malmstrom and Minot to anchor the US Northern Command would be mostly painless for the party of Truman.

It's time for endangered sage grouse to get a reprieve from extirpation: close this training range and convert Ellsworth to a fire-fighting tanker base.

2 comments:

Tim said...

Just another part of your war against Rapid City Larry? So easy to spew this shit when you don't live here isn't?

larry kurtz said...

Tim, the war against Ellsworth is decades-long: it is a Superfund site, an affront to tribes, treaty rights and the Earth. Ellsworth could be a fire-fighting tanker base with the stroke of a Presidential pen.