ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

In a letter Monday, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Democrat, said there is a "lack of transparency'' from the Air Force in how it prepared its draft environmental impact statement.

"The proposed action favored by the Department of the Air Force which would allow increased frequency of low-altitude and supersonic operations as well as flares and chaff across all Military Operations Areas presents significant concerns for constituents in my congressional district,'' he wrote to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III. Grijalva said many of these are the same concerns expressed during the 2022 "scoping period,'' which he said "received no response.''

His complaint comes a week after state Rep. David Cook, a Globe Republican, sent his own letter to the Air Force saying the plans outlined in the draft environmental impact statement fail to take into account the chances that what would be allowed could cause devastating wildfires.

Cook acknowledged that the document says restricting the use of flares based on local fire conditions is a "best management practice.'' But he said it's not codified in the plans "and simply leaves the decision whether to implement such constraints to the discretion of each unit's wing commander.''

For Cook, the issue also is personal. He said the draft environmental statement does not rule out that the 2021 Telegraph Fire, which burned more than 180,00 acres — including fences and a cabin on the property he ranches — was caused by flares.

And it comes as the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥-based Center for Biological Diversity has sued the Air Force, saying it has gotten no response to its own requests for public information about the plan.

The Air Force argues that it needs to address "training deficiencies associated with insufficient airspace.''

"The existing Military Operations Areas in this region were chartered decades ago for pilot training with aircraft no longer in use,'' the Air Force has said. The bottom line, its plans say, is ensuring that pilots are trained for a "real world'' mission that includes both low-level operations and the ability to operate there at supersonic speeds.

Any airspace limitation, it says, "threatens aircrew survivability and mission readiness.''

The Air Force's proposals vary.Ìý

In the Tombstone Military Operations Area, spanning an area along the border from Bisbee far into New Mexico, plans being considered would allow flights as low as 100 feet above ground level.

They also would permit supersonic operations at 5,000 feet. A typical commercial jet, operating subsonic, normally flies between 35,000 and 40,000 feet.

The release of flares and "chaff'' — materials that include small pieces of metal or plastic designed to confuse radar — would be allowed at 2,000 feet, versus the current 5,000-foot restriction.

In that Tombstone training area, at least under one option, the military operation area would be expanded by nearly 800 square miles to 4,766 square miles.

Some other areas have smaller changes proposed, such as the 1,410-square-miles area around Yarnell, Congress and Bagdad. There, flights could be 500 feet above ground, though there would be no change in current rules that allow supersonic operations at 10,000 feet. There would be a 2,000-foot restriction on flares and chaff.

In the 6,200-square-miles area that runs from Three Points and Arivaca through most of the Tohono O'odham Reservation, the biggest change proposed appears to be to allow training flights from 6 a.m. through midnight; now the cutoff is 7 p.m.

The military operation area from just east of Florence, through Miami, Safford and Clifton into New Mexico would see supersonic authorization at 5,000 feet and regular flights at 500 feet in the 2,627-square-miles area.

Grijalva wrote, "Constituents across southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and New Mexico have reported hundreds of nuisance flight incidents in violation of Federal Aviation Administration regulations underneath and near the MOAs, causing significant disturbances and a variety of health and wellness impacts."

The congressman said that the Air Force has yet to schedule any public hearings in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ County despite what he said is a proposed "doubling of annual sorties.'' Nor have there been public hearings on tribal lands, Grijalva said.

He said the Air Force has failed to respond to the public records lawsuit, nor to "hundreds of nuisance flight reports.''

There are 6,667 public comments the Air Force has kept internal, Grijalva said.

He also pointed to the impact on areas managed by everything from the Forest Service to the Bureau of Land Management, where there is "a unique and diverse array of flora and fauna.''

"Department of Air Force's insistence that the proposed action is 'compatible' with land uses beneath the Military Operations Areas despite 'reportable' noise increases, potential disturbance to wildlife and domestic animals anticipated, and nuisance flights reported under the status quo, is inconsistent with the views of local communities and some tribes,'' Grijalva wrote.

Cook has a narrower concern: The potential for fires caused by the use of flares.

The Air Force, in its own assessment, says the possibility "would be remote considering the release altitude.'' Cook was not comforted by that.

"History has shown that flares have been tied to wildfire occurrences, including the 2021 Telegraph Fire, which burned over 180,000 acres for nearly a month,'' he wrote to the Air Force. Nor was he convinced by a statement that the Air Force believes it is "unlikely'' that fire was caused by flares.

"The cause of the Telegraph Fire has not been fully resolved,'' Cook said. "And the draft environmental impact statement does not rule out the possibility that flares were responsible for the fire.''

Cook said Monday he has not gotten a response from the Air Force. He doesn't expect to, he said, explaining that the purpose of his letter was to force the military to take the issue into consideration.

But Cook, who lost his bid in August to move to the state Senate, said submitting a comment does give him standing to challenge the final decision of the Air Force if he believes it does not take the concerns into consideration.

The Center for Biological Diversity is still waiting for a response from the Air Force to its lawsuit.

"USAF's failure to comply with FOIA harms the Center's ability to provide full, accurate, and current information to the public on a matter of significant public interest,'' wrote attorney Trisha Sharma in the lawsuit filed in May. "Without this information, the Center cannot advance its mission, with its members, to protect native species and their habitat.''

The lawsuit asks U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez to order the Air Force to conduct a search "reasonably calculated'' to locate all the records responsive to the request. It also seeks cutoff date for getting the records.