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Report from Kodiak BMDO meeting
31 August 2001 from : Stacey Fritz |
Here is the guest opinion I have submitted to Alaska newspapers about the public meeting with the BMDO in Kodiak last week. It was incredible, I didn't have the space to describe it well or do the people who commented at it justice but we filmed it and will have that edited down. There were still folks lined up to comment and ask questions after four hours. The most hopeful thing going on here is that even the Fairbanks paper, which is normally 150% behind any and every kind of development, has been on the fence or perhaps even critical on NMD -- ran the long article on Ted Postol on Sunday's front page, two about the lawsuit yesterday and this one (copied below) as well as another very critical one ("Expert: Missile shield a modern Maginot Line" by George Gedda, AP) on the front page today. I have attached a picture of the Kodiak Target T-shirt -- opposition there was and still may be the minority but as soon as people heard "silos" many of them became quite agitated, it seems. Also attached is a photo of Pat Ladner, the Executive Director of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation (and ex-SDI program chief) looking annoyed with questions from a well-informed Kodiak resident. When I questioned him he snorted derisively about "you people" and "your conspiracy theories."
Stacey Fritz |
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Missile Defense promoters face growing opposition on Kodiak Island
Brochures put out by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce usually feature a
glossy cover picture of a Kodiak Brown bear, salmon-packed streams, or whales
passing in front of the ‘Emerald Isle’ and its fishing fleet.
The most recent brochure from Kodiak, however, depicts a rocket
blasting off into space from the increasingly controversial Kodiak Launch
Complex. The Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation’s rocket launch facility, despite its original
promises to host commercial satellite launches and diversify Kodiak’s
economy, was recently selected by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)
to launch mock-ICBMs in hit-to-kill missile defense tests.
Before that news had been digested, the BMDO announced its fast-paced
“test bed” proposal last month and Kodiak residents learned they are
slated to host silos and launches for ground-based interceptor missiles.
Three military representatives came to Kodiak on August 20 for a public
meeting that concerned citizens demanded through the Chamber of Commerce.
A growing number of islanders, many of whom originally supported the
launch complex, are worried about the effects missile defense tests will have
on tourism and the fishing industry.
Protest signs welcoming people to the meeting read: “Presenting now: Story time by
the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization ~ sure to be a real fairy tale,
bring the kids!”
One resident wore a t-shirt depicting a green map of Kodiak Island half-covered with a
large red target in response to a statement made by Chris Nelson, Alaska
coordinator for national missile defense: “You’ve always been a target.
How can you possibly be a bigger target than you already are?”
Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, spokesman for the BMDO, had help from David
Hasley and Eric Sorrels of the US Army Space and Strategic Defense Command as
the trio fielded questions, comments, pleas and insults from the approximately
250 residents who attended the question-and-answer session in the local high
school auditorium.
The session started with a brief presentation outlining the BMDO’s plans for the launch
facility at Narrow Cape and was broadcast over local radio.
A total of two residents called in to thank the officials for their
role in defending the country, providing the only positive feedback the
military representatives received during the four-hour long meeting.
Residents focused most questions on the shortfalls they found in the
previous environmental assessments that had been done for the complex and its
launches.
They are worried about the environmental effects of the chemicals involved in the Kodiak launches on
sensitive fisheries and about the “special exclusion zones” of the missile
defense rockets’ trajectories, which include the villages of Akhiok and Old Harbor.
Kodiak Natives in
attendance spoke forcefully of their mistrust of the military’s activities,
a sentiment exacerbated by the recent developments.
When the new launch trajectories were announced earlier this year,
members of the Kodiak Rocket Launch Information Group questioned the BMDO
officials and were told that underground shelters would be constructed for
villagers to use during launches in the new flight-path.
The military officials explained their lack of responsibility regarding
numerous concerns by reminding islanders that the BMDO will simply be a paying
customer at the Kodiak Launch Complex.
Residents didn’t fail to point out the irony of this situation to the federal
representatives, since they would be paying customers at a “private,
commercial” facility that had largely been paid for with federal money.
The financial history of the island’s spaceport also inspired its
popular local moniker – ‘Space Pork Kodiak.’
Lt. Col. Lehner reassured the audience at the meeting that the BMDO
would adhere to all the guidelines of the National Environmental Policy Act.
Two days later, residents learned that Lehner’s bosses back at the
Pentagon appear to have a completely different plan.
Worldcatch News Network, a fisheries related news reporting service,
circulated an article on August 22 entitled “Military may seek exemption
from Endangered Species Act {and} fisheries laws.”
While local fishermen are bound by the dictates of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, the military would prefer to ignore
these laws. If the Pentagon has its way, missile silo construction and
launches at the Kodiak Launch Complex (and all military activity everywhere in
the country) would be exempt from the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Marine Mammal
Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Sanctuaries
Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act. The ultimate irony for Alaska
is that Senator Ted Stevens' promotion of missile defense in the state may
result in a total disregard for the Fisheries Act he co-wrote in order to
sustain and enhance the state’s commercial fishing industry.
Apparently unconvinced by the BMDO’s promises, the Kodiak group has
joined other Alaskan and national organizations in a lawsuit opposing the
Department of Defense’s missile defense “test bed” proposal.
Stacey Fritz is a graduate
student at UAF and the coordinator of a local group promoting educated
opposition to missile defense in Alaska.
Links
to the Worldcatch article mentioned above and more information on the group
and related activities are available at www.nonukesnorth.net. August 29, 2001
A Fairbanks-based group is among a coalition of environmental and public The groups worry about the potential hazards of missile defense testing on the West Coast.
They contend in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.,
"I think it is illegal for them to try and construct this test bed in the
Pacific,
A new supplemental environmental impact study on the Pentagon's missile
The administration proposal includes plans for an emergency anti-missile
"By its own admission, the Bush administration has radically revised the
Steve Cleary of the Alaska Public Interest Research Group said at an
"They're putting the cart of missiles before the horse and they're endangering
The Pentagon has been planning to start construction early next year. If the
The new study could take from six to 18 months and could affect the
Along with the NRDC and AkPIRG, groups filing suit were Physicians for
Melanie Duchin, an Anchorage activist with Greenpeace, said the proposed
"Alaskans or anybody else who cares about the planet and the threat of a
Fritz, of the Fairbanks-based group No Nukes North, said that Alaska is
"Star Wars threatens to ignite a new nuclear arms race as well as directly
The suit lists environmental impacts associated with the expanded missile
Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, spokesman for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense
"We spent the past three years doing an environmental impact statement for
Lehner said the groups are using the environment as subterfuge to try to halt
"Their obvious, true agenda is to try to cancel missile defense, for political
The Pentagon plans to do a study, however, for Alaska's Kodiak Island since |