Scoping meeting
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 15, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Col. Bill Webster explains some of the differences between the current KC-135 and the KC-46A to Mark Lesnau and Jim Womble Thursday night during the public information session at the Herman Park Center.
Air Force officials hosted a public scoping meeting Thursday night at the Herman Park Center for the public to learn more about a reserve squadron of KC-46A Pegasus tankers that is being considered for Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Pilots of the aircraft, project managers and local elected officials were on hand to answer any questions the public might have about the potential stationing of the aircraft at the base.
Seymour Johnson has been selected as the preferred alternative for a reserve squadron of 12 of the new state-of-the-art aircraft. Three other bases are also possible contenders for the aircraft.
"It doesn't just help Wayne County, it helps the whole region anytime we're able to expand the mission at Seymour Johnson," said state Rep. John Bell, who sits on the state Homeland Security, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. "That's going to bring families, that's going to bring families, that's going to bring jobs, because once you bring this in, you'll possibly have distributors and contractors set up around the area that are used to maintain the KC-46A.
"Also, it'll ensure the mission continues. Anytime you're able to replace the tankers, because the current ones are old, it ensures our mission continues at Seymour Johnson on the refueling side, plus the fighter wing there with the F-15Es."
Bell said a combined effort between the Military Affairs Committee, the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and the local community brought SJAFB into consideration to receive the new fleet of tankers.
A draft of the report that will detail the approximate cost of stationing the tankers at SJAFB and the environmental impact the tankers will have on the area will be available in late summer 2016. A final decision will not be made on whether or not SJAFB will get the tankers until March 2017.
"We will come back once the draft EIS (environmental impact statement) is produced," said Dale Clark, chief of the National Environmental Policy Act Division at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center in San Antonio, Texas. "That will be released. The public can see it online and at local libraries. We will come back and do a public hearing at each of the four locations where we are having these scoping meetings.
"The hearing is more formal. We will have a court reporter there. We will take basically formal comments from folks who have concerns they want us to address in the final version."
The public hearings are anticipated to be held in September or October followed by the final decision by the secretary of the Air Force in March or April of 2017.
Even if Seymour Johnson is selected, it would be 2019 before the aircraft would arrive.
Staff putting on the scoping session arrived at Seymour Johnson Wednesday and met with base officials Thursday morning.
"Certainly there appears to be a whole lot of local support for the base, and that is not surprising," Clark said. "In general from what we have heard, there appears to be a lot of support for Seymour Johnson in general in the local community from what we have heard.
"When we published a draft environmental impact statement it will have our assessment of what those impacts are at all of the locations both for the public and the Air Force decision makers to review.
The study is one of the factors that the secretary of the Air Force and others at that level who make this final decision will consider the environmental impact as well as the military factors that go into the location -- what the demand is that particular location can serve, what the cost may be of putting the beddown at that location, Clark said.
Operational factors will figure into the decision as well, he said.
Goldsboro City Manager Scott Stevens said locating the fleet of 12 KC-46A tankers at SJAFB would reinforce the viability and stability of the Air Force base in Goldsboro.
"I think what it would reinforce is the continued viability of Seymour Johnson," Stevens said. "If the Air Force is moving a new aircraft into this site, I think that just reinforces its commitment to the long term viability of Seymour Johnson as a place for the Air Force to be. I think it's very important to the community to weigh in on it."
A new fleet could also mean a significant impact for the local economy and housing market, Stevens said.
"Anytime you have more people coming in, most of the base housing is now off base, and most of your shopping, so when new people come in and go out to the shops or the restaurants that has a huge impact on the community from the standpoint of the military family influence. They're here, they're going to our schools, our churches, they're shopping in stores and going to restaurants, so more of them here can't be anything but a positive impact. The Air Force has been a very good influence for Goldsboro."