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Monday, August 04, 2008

Tech To Release Files on Air Force Training Spot

By Martin Salazar
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
          New Mexico Tech will release documents about its plans to allow the Air Force to use its testing center near Socorro as a training ground for practice drops and possibly some air-to-ground shooting.
        A judge ordered Tech to release the records to neighbors, some of whom are fighting the plans.
        "We do not plan on appealing," said university spokesman Thomas Guengerich. "We're going to comply with the judge's decision."
        New Mexico Tech wants to establish the drop zone at its Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center primarily to create a training ground for Kirtland Air Force Base's 58th Special Operations Wing in dropping personnel and cargo bundles from C-130 aircraft.
        The proposal involves about 640 acres roughly nine miles west of the city of Socorro on the west side of Socorro Peak. The air crews are training for a variety of roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, New Mexico Tech said in a final environmental assessment report on the project.
        The report also mentions the possibility of a "special use airspace" for such exercises as air-to-ground gunnery.
        The sites and sounds of explosives detonating are fixtures of the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, which is well known for explosives research.
        Still, some Socorro residents and property owners near the testing center have expressed concerns about the new proposal, and many of them have signed a petition opposing it.
        The court case — a request for a writ of mandamus — was filed by attorneys for Kokopelli Ranch, a property adjacent to the proposed drop zone. Among the documents sought was correspondence between New Mexico Tech and others related to the proposed drop zone and all drafts of the environmental assessment report on the project.
        New Mexico Tech refused to turn over most of the documents, contending that only final contracts were public. The school contended that documents related to negotiations and other preliminary steps were not public.
        A final written order has yet to be filed, though District Judge Kevin Sweazea ruled from the bench Tuesday that New Mexico Tech had to turn over the requested documents.
        "Kokopelli ranch did not believe that the position taken by New Mexico Tech was supported by the Inspection of Pubic Records Act or case law in New Mexico, and Judge Sweazea agreed with us," said Albuquerque attorney Tom Gulley, who represented the ranch. The ranch has asked for attorney fees and costs, but the court has yet to rule on that request.
        "I expect any landowner would not be pleased if C-130s were flying at a low altitude over their property and dropping objects from the sky. We don't have the documents that explain how the drop zone was created, who's doing what and what it costs," Gulley said.