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Base, tribe in step

Why isn’t Fairchild Air Force Base saying the Spokane Tribe’s West Plains project is a problem? Simple; because they don’t believe there is a problem.

Fairchild and the U.S. Air Force have been cooperating agencies throughout the entire Bureau of Indian Affairs environmental impact statement process for the Spokane Tribe Economic Project. They aren’t just being polite neighbors. If they felt there was an issue with the location of the project, they would have addressed it at any time during this process.

The EIS had a few minor areas of concern, but the tribe worked with Fairchild to mitigate the issues to the satisfaction of the base.

The Federal Aviation Administration stated early on that the planned hotel tower was not a problem for air navigation for FAFB or Spokane International Airport, but the tribe lowered the height of the hotel nevertheless.

The tribe and Fairchild have been good friends and neighbors for many years, and work in cooperation on many events. Let’s move on and create 5,000 badly needed jobs for our community.

Sheri Johnson

Co-chair, Friends of STEP

Spokane

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