Navy unveils proposed expansion of bombing range in Nevada

A sign points to Fallon Naval Air Station, where officials are pushing to add almost 770,000 acres to the training range 385 miles northwest of Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Capt. David Halloran, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Fallon, speaks to a crowd member in Gabbs on Oct. 7. A public meeting was on the proposed expansion of the Navy's Fallon Range Training Complex, which would include Nye County. (David Jacobs/Times-Bonanza & Goldfield News)

The Navy has completed a draft plan to more than triple the size of its bombing range near Fallon.

Navy officials want to add as much as 619,000 acres of federal land and more than 65,000 acres of private land to the Fallon Range Training Complex about 350 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The proposed expansion includes parts of Churchill, Lyon, Mineral, Nye and Pershing counties.

A Federal Register notice set for publication on Thursday will announce the Navy’s completion of the draft environmental review for the proposal.

Starting Friday, the public will have 60 days to submit input on the document as part of a comment period, which will last through Jan. 15 and include seven public meetings in Northern and central Nevada next month.

At least one environmental group is already pushing back against the expansion.

“It’s an outrage that the Trump administration is proceeding with yet another military seizure of Nevada’s beloved public lands,” Patrick Donnelly, Nevada director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an email. “We will fight to protect this rich habitat for mule deer and golden eagles from becoming yet another bombing range sacrifice zone for the military industrial complex.”

The proposed range expansion was actually announced in August 2016, before Donald Trump was elected.

Navy officials have said the additional land is needed to safely provide more realistic training using today’s faster, more advanced aircraft and weaponry.

The current range covers about 232,000 acres. All naval strike aviation units train there before deployment.

According to a statement on the Navy’s website for the proposed expansion, “training is hindered by inadequate land and airspace, leaving aircrews unable to train as they would fight in the real world.”

Air Force officials have offered similar reasons for a proposed range expansion in Southern Nevada.

The Air Force is pushing to add about 301,000 acres to the Nevada Test and Training Range, a secure area north of Las Vegas that currently covers more than 2.9 million acres in Clark, Lincoln and Nye counties.

Roughly 277,000 acres of that expansion would be carved from Desert National Wildlife Refuge, about half of which is already under military control.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.