Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans For Peace

Dear Representative Welch:

 

We, the Will Miller Green Mountain Chapter of Veterans For Peace, share the concerns as expressed by many thoughtful Vermont residents regarding the F-35 and urge you to reconsider your position, not only regarding basing the F-35 in Vermont, but also in terms of allowing the program to continue.

 

The Cost for this program is gross and outrageous. At a price tag of $1.5 trillion dollars and growing, this is a program that we as a nation cannot afford. Think of what could come from investing that kind of money in public programs in support of the common good.

 

Additionally, this is not a defense weapon and offers no value to Vermont. As stated by Lockheed Martin, the F-35 is a first-day-of-war, long range, high altitude stealth bomber that carries 18,000 pounds of bombs. Representing this aircraft as a patrol/ air defense is misleading. Hopefully, Vermont will not have to face a situation similar to the one we faced in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, but if we do we will need helicopters, not stealth bombers. The F-35 represents the continued militarization of the state of Vermont which is contrary to the Vermont State Constitution which specifically warns against maintaining a standing Army during a time of peace as being contrary to the public good.

 

Some of the other concerns that we share with fellow Vermonters, and which are based on the USAF Draft Environmental Impact Statement, include:

1. Noise Level: The F-35 is more than four times louder than the F-16.

2. Residential Area: The F-35 will put 2944 homes, 6675 people, five schools and six churches in a zone “generally not considered suitable for residential use,” including more than half of Winooski.

3. Property Values: Homes exposed to the increased noise from the F-35 compared to the F-16 may lose between 11% and 42% of their value.

4. Crash Risk: Projected “Class A Mishaps” for the F-35 during years 2-5 is 11 times higher han those of the current F-16.

5. Home Loans: HUD, FHA, and VA loans are not assured for homes in the noise zone. Homeowners may be required to disclose that their homes have been designated as “not suitable for residential use to potential buyers.”

6. Other Sites: The other bases being considered for the F-35 have virtually unchanged or greatly reduced noise impacts compared to their present aircraft. Burlington is the only base for this the noise impact of the F-35 is high: up to 90% greater impacts than the present aircraft.

7. Children: The F-35 will expose students at Chamberlin Elementary School in South Burlington to levels of noise many times louder than what is considered suitable for schoolchildren.

8. Affected Communities: The excessive noise of the F-35 is “disproportionately” directed at our low-income and immigrant communities.

9. Economy: The $53 billion figure often states as the payroll of the Vermont Air National Guard is not supported by the data. The Air Force says that with the F-35 the total VTANT payroll is less than 1% of the total non-farm income of Chittenden County.

10. Jobs: Of the 1,130 personal at VTANG, 730 train one weekend a month and “hold full-time jobs outside the Vermont ANG.” 333 are full-time military. The full-time jobs outside the VTANG are not at risk. Full-time membership in the military is also not at risk.

 

The military is not meant to be a jobs program and any military presence was always meant to be a means of keeping the peace and not waging endless war. Please stand up and urge an end to war profiteering by Lockheed Martin and all other corporations, demand an end to the F-35 program and bring our money back to Vermont.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Will Miller Green Mountain, Chapter 57, Inc. Veterans For Peace