Training Range Faces Legal Hurdles

Gov. Phil Batt said on Wednesday that the Air Force is disappointed but not overly concerned about a federal judge’s decision voiding its separate environmental assessments for the composite wing and expanded training range at Mountain Home Air Force Base.

“They don’t think this is a major impediment,” Batt said after meeting with top Clinton administration officials in Washington. “They’ll work through this.”

In fact, Batt said it appeared that only legal problems now stand in the way of the range expansion that many believe would assure the future of the base, which is a major economic force in southern Idaho. And he has no way to determine just how serious those might be in the future.

“Everybody is ready to go on the training range,” the governor said. “The political impediments have been removed, according to the White House.”

Batt said there would be additional meetings on the issue before a concrete proposal is made, but he expects progress to be relatively swift.

The GOP congressional delegation was with Batt, and Sen. Dirk Kempthorne predicted the final proposal would be sensitive to both environmental and domestic concerns.

Sen. Larry Craig called the newfound White House support another example of the Clinton administration “realizing their anti-West style isn’t getting them anywhere.”

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled that the Air Force violated federal law when it conducted separate environmental assessments of the training range expansion and the relocation of the composite wing to Mountain Home.