Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement are now closed. Public hearings have been concluded. (No public hearings were scheduled for Cochise County or tribal lands or Tucson or Phoenix.)
The revised comments of the PCS coalition are available here. Comments from other community members that have been sent with permission to share are available here.
The Air Force released the Draft EIS on August 9, 2024, with public review and the comment period closing November 12, 2024. The Final EIS is expected in the spring 2025, and the Record of Decision in the summer, 2025.
Peaceful Chiricahua Skies is a local coalition of organizations, businesses, and individuals in the Chiricahua-Peloncillo and surrounding areas acting as a clearinghouse for those opposing expanded military training flights in the Tombstone MOA area.
Members of our coalition include the Center for Biological Diversity, Southwestern Research Station (American Museum of Natural History), Friends of Cave Creek Canyon, Chiricahua Regional Council, Peaceful Gila Skies, Natural Allies, Sky Island Alliance, Wild Arizona, and others. PCS has no paid staff. It is an all volunteer effort supported by volunteers who are residents of the area affected. We are also relying on assistance from our coalition member organizations. (If you are a business or non-profit and would like to join our coalition, please let us know.)
Here is more information about the U.S. Air Force proposal to optimize the Special Use Airspace (SUA) to support aircrews stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Luke AFB, and Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona. This proposal would dramatically increase military combat training flights, lower training elevations to 100 feet, allow the dropping of chaff and flares, and permit sonic-boom producing supersonic flights as low as 5,000 feet in southern Arizona and New Mexico.
Read our most recent press release here. Read about the Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit of the US Air Force. (Other press releases and press coverage available here.)
