Misrepresenting the nature of his trip at his news conference, Governor Shumlim said:
"I'm
honored that it's possible for me and the mayors of the cities - the closest
cities - that would be impacted and others to listen to them". I do think when you're
making a decision of this magnitude it's important that you know what you're
talking about."
Besides ignoring the absence of anyone from the closest city, South Burlington, when the governor talked about "making a decision of this magnitude," he was talking about a decision that was out of his hands and would be made by the Air Force and others at the Pentagon. The Governor chose to rubber stamp the plan in an unofficial manner when the Air Force presented its environmental impact statement that, among other things, finds that the F-35 is twice as loud as the planes now based in South Burlington and that the impact of the base will render thousands of homes around the airport "unsuitable for residential use," in the Air Force's sanitized phrase.
"I think I owe it to Vermonters to listen to an F-35 as compared to an F-16 and see what it sounds like," the governor said, without addressing his lack of training in sound engineering or any other relevant expertise.
Have
Any Officials Read the Air Force Report?
At the "F-35 in South Burlington" blogspot, longtime F-35 opponent Juliet Beth Buck suggested that if the governor wanted to be "informed," he might read the Air Force's environmental impact statement. It is not clear whether the governor has read the report or not, but back in May he expressed "unconditional support" for the F-35 at the first hearing on the report, as reported in VTDigger blog, which has mostly stopped reporting on F-35 opposition.
On Vermont Public Radio, where the early online comments mocked the governor's jaunt, the main story quoted Juliet Beth Buck:
"My
first thought was, "Oh good. We have three people who know nothing about noise
going somewhere to not measure noise and spend the taxpayers' money doing it".' [Shumlin] is going to be standing up
there with a large group of people who approve of this project. Nobody who's
opposed to this project is invited. Nobody who can actually evaluate the
quality of that noise has been invited."
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