Paitue Journalist Myron Dewey spent his final hours trying to prevent it. Now, President Biden and Congress have authorized the expansion of the Fallon bombing range. Bombing, live ground fire, and controversial electronic warfare will be expanded on Paiute Shoshone homelands.
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
"Protect your spirits, because you are in a place where spirits get eaten," said John Trudell, whose wife and children died in a house fire in nearby Duck Valley while John was protesting the BIA in Washington.
Myron was opposing the expansion of the Fallon bombing range on Paiute Shoshone homelands, and the war machine in Nevada. Bombing, live combat fire, and electronic warfare are carried out here by the Navy Seals' special ops.
While most families were focused on the holidays in December, President Biden signed the Defense spending bill into law on December 23. It authorizes land for withdrawal to expand the Fallon bombing range, which Myron spent his last hours opposing.
"The six fighter jets – EA-18G Growlers – are equipped to carry out a variety of missions, but they specialize in what's called electronic warfare – principally the jamming of enemy radar with a flood of radio-frequency waves to suppress air defenses, according to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby."
On the land, the plants, birds, and animals await another form of justice.
Former Fallon Paiute Shoshone Chairman Len George, opposing the expansion, said the Navy's target practice has already destroyed the place of origin at Fox Peak.
"The Navy has already destroyed our origin site at Fox Peak with its target practice, and bombed our most important medicine rock, which is now located in the Bravo-20 range. The expansion proposal deepens these wounds and threatens similar harms over hundreds of thousands of acres.”
War, and billion-dollar corporate contracts, are big business. Nevada Congressmen pushed for the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes the expansion of the bombing range.
The Nevada delegation teamed up to expand the Fallon bombing range. The bill was pushed by Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto in the Senate, and by Republican Mark Amodei in the House.
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| In December of 2016 at Standing Rock, Myron Dewey posted this photo, as Water Protectors were resisting Dakota Access Pipeline. Then, in February of 2022, The Intercept went to court and fought a costly court battle. A North Dakota State Judge says that 16,000 TigerSwan spy documents will be released to the public. Energy Transfer, Dakota Access Pipeline's owner, fought in court to keep the documents secret. At Standing Rock, Myron photographed the faces of security contractors and militarized law enforcement. Myron could have been called as a witness, as the court cases continue, including those where Water Protectors suffered critical injuries. The North Dakota regulatory board ruled that TigerSwan worked in the state at Standing Rock without a license. |
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| Myron Dewey posted this photo on Dec. 19, 2016 outside Morton County courthouse in 2016, where Water Protectors were charged, strip-searched, had numbers written on their arms with magic markers, imprisoned in dog cages in the basement, and denied their medicine. The violations were described by grandmother and Ponca councilwoman Casey Camp Horinek during her testimony to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Jamaica. |
Defense Bill Includes Massive Military Land Grab in Nevada
Navy to Seize Control of Hundreds of Thousands of Acres of Public Land
By the Center for Biological Diversity
RENO, Nevada (Dec. 7, 2022) — The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act released Tuesday night by the House Rules Committee contains provisions that would enable an enormous military land grab in Nevada.
Despite celebrations by the environmental justice community about the omission of Sen. Joe Manchin’s permitting reform deal from the bill, the must-pass legislation does include a long-sought-after expansion of Naval Air Station Fallon in central Nevada. This provision would allow the Navy to gain complete or partial control of more than 500,000 acres of public land for bombing ranges and military exercise areas.
The public lands of central Nevada that would be turned into a military training area feature towering snow-capped mountain ranges and broad, sagebrush-filled basins. They’re rich in wildlife, including desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, golden eagles and greater sage-grouse.
“This is a dark day for the public lands and wildlife of central Nevada,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m outraged that Nevada’s senators are helping the military seize control of hundreds of thousands of acres of irreplaceable public land.”
The expansion would entail a significant increase in military airplane activity above Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, an essential stopover on the Pacific flyway and a Western Hemispheric shorebird reserve. The refuge is dense with bald eagles, tundra swans and shorebirds such as American avocets and long-billed dowitchers. The increased overflights will disturb the birds as they stop to rest on their long migrations.
The bill also includes a backdoor authorization for the Dixie Valley water grab, a proposed project that would suck water out of remote Dixie Valley and pipe it 50 miles to Fallon to fuel unsustainable growth. This project was recently cited by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a factor contributing to the endangered species listing of the Dixie Valley toad.
“Sen. Cortez Masto and Sen. Rosen have sold out Nevada’s public lands and wildlife,” said Donnelly. “They talk the talk about conservation, but when push comes to shove, they’re apparently willing to sacrifice our shared national heritage on the altar of the ever-expanding military-industrial complex.”
Notes
Nevada delegation teams up to expand Fallon bombing range
The Electronic Warfare Range is located in Restricted Area 4816 (R-4816) and is 23 nmi (43 km; 26 mi) east of NAS Fallon in the southern Dixie Valley between the Stillwater Mountains and the Clan Alpine Mountains.[1]
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fallon-trc.htmArticle copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Electronic warfare at Fort Huachuca, Arizona: Defense spending bill 2023
SEC. 240. REPORT ON POTENTIAL FOR INCREASED UTILIZATION OF THE ELECTRONIC PROVING GROUNDS TESTING RANGE. (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following: (1) The Electronic Proving Grounds located at Fort Huachuca, Arizona is unique within the Department of Defense because of its naturally quiet electromagnetic environment, its specialized facilities, its close relationship with the Army training community, and its access to the expansive real-estate of southern Arizona. (2) The Electronic Proving Grounds has access to 70,000 acres at Ft. Huachuca, 23,000 acres on Wilcox Dry Lake, more than 100,000 acres at Gila Bend, and with prior coordination, approximately 62 million acres of Federal and State-owned land. (3) Live electronic warfare training is not possible at the majority of military installations in the continental United States including the National Training Center. (4) The Electronic Proving Grounds has the capacity to handle additional testing as well as the capability for realistic electronic warfare training (b) Report Required.--Not later than February 1, 2023, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the Electronic Proving Grounds testing range located at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. (c) Elements.--The report under subsection (b) shall address-- (1) the amount and types of testing activities conducted at the Electronic Proving Grounds testing range; (2) any shortfalls in the facilities and equipment of the range; (3) the capacity of the range to be used for additional testing activities; (4) the possibility of using the range for the testing activities of other Armed Forces, Federal agencies, and domestic companies; (5) the capacity of the range to be used for realistic electronic warfare training; (6) electronic warfare training restrictions at domestic military installations generally; and (7) the feasibility and advisability of providing a dedicated training area for electronic warfare units. (d) Coordination.--In preparing the report under subsection (b), the Secretary of the Army shall coordinate with the following: (1) The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation of the Department of Defense. (2) The governments of Cochise County and Sierra Vista, Arizona.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7900/text
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