MOSES LAKE – Pat Palmerton often wakes up at night to the noise of a C-17 transport plane flying over his Grant County home.
The C-17 planes routinely fly for tactical training operations over the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Last year, C-17 planes from McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma performed 24,700 tactical touchdowns, takeoffs and landings, according to the Air Force.
The noise generated by the big planes flying at low altitudes can rattle windows and make it difficult to carry on a conversation, Palmerton said.
And he said he’s had enough.
So, when he learned about a new Air Force proposal to make the airport a site for an interim landing zone for C-17s that would allow more planes in the area for training purposes, he began campaigning against it in his neighborhood of 1,100 homes. The area is part of former Larson Air Force Base, which closed in 1966, and Palmerton’s home is less than two miles from the runway.
He’s circulated a petition urging friends and community members to comment on the Air Force’s draft environmental assessment of the site related to establishing a temporary landing zone at the airport. And he has won over many neighbors, including Ron Johnson, to oppose more C-17 operations at the airport.
According to the proposal, crews based at Travis Air Force Base and March Air Force Base in California will use the airport for training until a new permanent base is constructed in California in the next two years.
The proposal will add about 13,100 tactical training operations per year, Doug Allbright, environmental engineer for Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, said in an e-mail.
That’ll only add to the noise, said Johnson, who’s already mailed a petition against the plan to the Air Force.
“I’m not looking forward to the increased noise,” he said.
Allbright said the Grant County airport was selected as one of the potential sites because it can handle training missions and a formal agreement for C-17 training is already in place with the Port of Moses Lake.
“There’s a general acceptance of the (proposal),” said Larry Peterson, one of three commissioners for the Port of Moses Lake, which operates the airport. The community is used to this kind of flying activity, he said.
The airport is used for Boeing test flights, training Japan Air Lines pilots and aviation students at Big Bend Community College and for tactical training by the Air Force, he added.
The port’s contract with the Air Force will expand the use of the airport and bring financial benefits to the port, Peterson said.
Palmerton said he wouldn’t mind the increased noise if the Air Force establishes a base in Grant County. It’ll bring a huge defense payroll and contracts that’ll benefit the local economy, he said.
The proposal is unfair because the other two potential sites – Travis and Southern California Logistics Airport – have significantly fewer C-17 tactical training operations compared with the Grant County airport, he said.
The draft environmental assessment provides details of that and also of the high noise level residents deal with, Palmerton said.
Community members also weren’t adequately informed about the draft document, he said. When he went to the Moses Lake Public Library in early July, he found the draft environmental assessment on the librarian’s desk, he said.
“I was the first person to read it,” Palmerton said. “I was astounded.”
The document is available at the library for public review.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
