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Wednesday, November 11, 1998
Public seeks answers on use of Area 51 land
By Keith Rogers
Review-Journal
Calling the 3 million-acre Nellis range "absolutely critical" to national security, Air Force officials fielded comments Tuesday night on renewing their pact with the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw the land from public use so combat training missions can continue.
In contrast to the praise the Air Force received from city and chamber of commerce representatives in the Las Vegas Valley, a handful of speakers said they wanted the government to be more upfront about activities along the dry Groom Lake bed.
The location, also known as Area 51, is shown on maps as a 38,400-acre rectangle primarily in Lincoln County that belongs to the Department of Energy but is controlled by the Air Force.
Norio Hayakawa, representing a California-based citizens watchdog group, said the Air Force should drop its "hazy, ambiguous" references to its operations near Groom Lake.
"They should name that location in clear terms," he told the panel of Air Force officers, who earlier had emphasized the importance of the Nellis Air Force Range for preparing fighter pilots and support units for combat.
Col. Bill Percival said the range "is absolutely critical to the Air Force's combat readiness" because it needs the wide expanse of Clark, Nye and Lincoln counties to put warplanes through realistic exercises.
"The overwhelming success of the Gulf War is a testament to the need for the range," Percival said.
But Hayakawa and others such as Anthony Hilder and Aaron Johnson said the Air Force needs to tell the public what really goes on at the mysterious bases near Groom Lake because former workers there have claimed health hazards lurk from materials burned in open trenches.
Said Johnson, "It concerns me that people are experiencing ills and not being treated."
Air Force officials did not comment on any questions raised.
The information from Tuesday's public hearing eventually will be presented to Congress for action on the land use.
Hilder said he wanted to know whether biological and chemical weapons are being tested in underground facilities at that location, some 90 miles north of Las Vegas.
The current arrangement between the Air Force and the BLM for the range is set to expire on Nov. 6, 2001, unless Congress decides to extend the withdrawal for 25 years or indefinitely under the four alternatives.
Two options call for what Percival described as a "jurisdictional realignment" of the range boundaries that surround DOE's Rhode Island-size Nevada Test Site. Those two options would give the Department of Energy 127,620 acres of former nuclear weapons proving grounds known as Pahute Mesa, which is currently public land withdrawn by the Air Force but controlled by DOE under an agreement.
Under these options, the Air Force would take over DOE's rectangle around Groom Lake, which is controlled by the Air Force under a secret agreement.
The other two options call for continuing Air Force use of the land as it does now, but in one case for another 25 years and in the other case for an indefinite period.
A fifth alternative, which is unlikely because of safety hazards, would return the land to public use.
The public comment period for renewal of the withdrawn land ends Dec. 31.
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