The US Navy is one step closer to obtaining its proposed threefold expansion of the bombing range at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada after its latest environmental review of the area and in spite of pushback from lawmakers, local Native American tribes and conservationists.
A recent review conducted by the US Navy concluded that there is no risk that any significant environmental harm would come about from the service's desired 1.1 million-acre expansion, according to the Associated Press.
The Navy's environmental impact statement, released Friday, claimed there would be no significant impact on cultural or biological resources and only “minimal” harm to the “near-threatened” greater sage grouse.
The US military has received pushback from tribal bodies such as the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and conservationists such as Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, who told AP that US President Donald Trump's administration was expanding the military-industrial complex through its attempt “to turn Nevada's precious public lands into a bombing range.”
“The Navy's planned land seizure threatens to devastate greater sage grouse breeding areas and migratory bird habitat at Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge,” he added.
Lawmakers have also pushed back against the expansion and have even brought the matter to Capitol Hill.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced compromise…
