Thursday, 24 December 2009 23:39 by Jude Lizama | Variety News Staff
THE proposed firing range and training complex on Tiyan will be used by the military for various small arms firing ranges, according to the draft environmental impact statement.
The proposed training site will be located in the military lease area.
“The majority of the munitions proposed at the ranges proposed in this Guam and CNMI are small arms, which are defined as a family of firearms that may be both carried and discharged by one person, as opposed to artillery weapons,” according to the draft study.
These small arms include rifles, handguns such as pistols and revolvers, shotguns, submachine guns, and machine guns.
Provided that Tinian houses the five proposed live fire training ranges, the study estimates an annual ammunition expenditure of 3,280,000 discharged bullets.
Enhancement to U.S. military training facilities, both on Guam and Tinian, are suggested based on the periodic assessments to ensure that military training requirements and Mariana Islands Range Complex facilities are capable of meeting future training requirements, according to the draft study.
The study assesses potential impacts of continuing and proposed military training activities on existing ranges onshore, offshore, and near shore to Guam and the CNMI, to include “increased tempo of training and improvements to existing ranges based on all anticipated military service training requirements between 2010 and 2015.”
“As future training requirements are developed by all military services, appropriate documentation would be developed to address increased range use rates, range and infrastructure requirements,” the study said.
“This reiterative process for the MIRC allows for the incorporation and integration of any new capabilities and ranges proposed by the various services over time, and ensures that a comprehensive management plan is addressed in a complete and comprehensive manner.”
Although Tinian currently holds a range maintenance contract and agreement with the military, the draft study states that at the end of the weeklong training sessions “Marines would collect brass and trash from the course for transport to Guam.”
“All solid waste that is not composted at the Bivouac Area would be transported to Tinian Airport (West Field) with the Marines and equipment for transport to Guam,” the study said.
No comments:
Post a Comment