Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126074
'A death zn the fam ily Yo u see , the gunnery commander wasn't aware of t he National Env ironmental Policy Act ( N E P A) that mandates federal agencies - which include the USAF. to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for major federal actions that affect the human environment. Guidelines have been issued that set up an hierarchy of analyses and tests, to allow an agency to determine if an EIS is necessary One of the supplementary tests is controvery. That is , if there is controvery over the impact, not over the action . John knows this - that's why he asked for the information Without that , he couldn't pursue any legal action , as he wouldn't know what the USAF's assessment of the impact was, let alone if the Club could challenge its correctness. But he didn't say that. The implied threat , plus Congressional inquiry , sure looked controversial. To back u p a bit in time , it seemsj there's an endangered critter on the, range, the Sonoran Antelope, The federa l Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife is entrusted with protecting endangered wild life, and although they didn't know if the race course traversed any critical habitat , and although the antelope must by now be used to noise and dust , the feds screamed. More controversy. Ba ck at Luke. the USAF wasn't anywhere near ready for the blast. Coordination between the range commander and Luke never got done, ' the documents John asked for never got done, and the USAF knows less about what they have to and don't , have to do than John McComb (o r you, and I, now), I No Bribe, No Ride Boot Bargains Major Brands Value $70,00 to $80.0 0 for only $49.95 C h ildren 's B u ck le or Men's Lace Over 250 Slyl_ of Boots Work Shoes Unlimited Whittier, 11227 Washington Blvd , 695-Q66 Garden Grove, 12086 Broolth Ufst SL 537-6535 Orange, ln2 N, Tustin Ave, 996-5400 TERRYKIT 8" OF TRAVEL FOR PENTON, KTl\I, & '76 HODAKA Smoother action - More control Improved handling - More travel D ifferent dampening Air or sp rings , The front end kit that beats them all. - $50.00 D ealer o r Dire c t ou t of state call toll free 800-854-469 1 90 day money bac k guarantee 10 By Ph ilip C. Briggs A classic died last week - stillborn. Eagerly anticipated by many, it was aborted in its final weeks by the Sierra Club, They've learned to play the federal environmental ga mes a lot better than us - and even better than the Air Force, The Arizona Desert Racing Association (ADRA) , one of the late race's parents, has been hosting local desert events around Arizona for the last few years. This season they decided to get their act together with a full blown series. Gila Bend to Yuma , a 165 mile cross-country, was to be the setpiece. As you may have heard , finding land on which to run a 2000 entry 165 mile cross -country is becoming a tad difficult. Even in Arizona, land of the free , home of the Barry - but I digress. Where. ADRA asked themselves, could we find a piece of desert no one would care if we used? Where indeed . but along the southwestern boundary of Arizona on the Air Force gunnery range. Hey, if there's any place you could hold such a desert race it's got to be spot that's constantly bombed and strafed by supersonic jet fighters. Right? So the AMD RA met with the commander of the gunnery range. Headquarters are near Gila Bend, wit h th e next link- up in the chain of command in Phoenix at Luke Air Force Base. The ADRA has run on the range twice before, during the Gila Bend Grand Prix . The range commander had issued permits for those events , 'u n d e r procedures established to allow the public on the range to hunt , picnic. camp, explore - or ride dirt bikes, He'd had no problems with the past two events . and in due time said hell yes - after all, how could a desert race screwup a gunnery range? We'll have to coordinate this with Luke, he said, you 'll need insurance, and so on; all of which was confirmed in an official letter from the range commander to the AD RA authorizing the race , The logistics for an event of this size are staggering and expensive. Advertising, printing, mailing, front men on the road. It all costs a bunch: nearly four large economy size bills as of last week. For nothing. The high profile advertising caught the eye of more than bikers. Eventually , one John McComb , Southwestern field , representative for the Sierra Club (he's a paid troop) became interested. Now John had not seen an environmental impact statement on this event, and keeping up on this sort of thing is his job. So he called the base commander at Luke. As 'I' ve piec ed it together, he didn't like the answers he got and probably detected a weak spot. So he sent a telegram to make sure he got their attention. No threats or anything, He just asked for copies of the map of the course, the environmental assessment (EAR) of race impacts, the DOD's O RV regulations , and a list of those agencies who'd been contacted and had provided input to the EAR. O h while you're at it would you send another copy to the Sierra Cl ub's legal council. At the same tim e he sent a telegram to one of o ur Congressmen -; Mo Udall You remember Mo from earlier this year potential presidential material. Well Mo's no friend of the dirt biker, and he fired a request for a full explanation to the Air Force's Congressional Liaison (yes ' - in D.C.). It wasn't too long before things started to fold in on the AD RA . r With visions of expensive EARs, EIS 's , and lawsuits dancing in thei heads they backed out - leavin ADRA with one "ery expensive bag. ADRA had performed in' good faith , contacting an official and following the rules, To them it appeared that the necessary machinations were being done. The gunnery range commande thought he had complied with the spirt of NEPA - he just didn't do th~ pa perworkl You see , if there is no impact there is no need for an EIS. It" doesn't matter that someone disagrees with the action! And the EA R could have been a one page memo stating the lack of impact attached to the ro ute map the ADRA provided. d The brass at Luke dropped the ball,« but then they weren't familiar with the rules of the game , And the Sierra Club, for the price of a couple of telegrams, deprived a couple of r thousand of you of a rare race experience. All to protect some God-ol forsaken , bomb cratered desert , and 50 or 60 deaf antelopes! I • Is there a moral to all this? Does ther grizzly bear defecate in the sub-alpine forest? n For desert racers in general : Our. enemies have not , and will not give up until you 've gone the way of the dodo: For Arizonians: It can happen hereq - in fact , the desert is shut down fon o now - and may be forever. We've even less than, God forbid, California ad The alphabet soup of NEPA , EA R, and EIS is going to choke us, unless weiq learn to play the game. Not to StOpl< something , but to work deser racing/tra ilriding/end uros into the' bureaucrat's planni ng process so that iz whil e they're spending all that m oney they can consi der our interest as well. T hey couldn't afford to do an EIS for B to V, remember? But we can use , theirs! The BLM , USFS, and USAF are doing management plans on the land they administer. Find out when your favorite area will be do ne , Get your two bits in - if you don't you'll , • . . be shut out. Forever,