Meeting with Kirtland Air Force Base Regarding Air Noise

My office has received numerous calls and email regarding noise from Kirtland Air Force Base disturbing residents of the SE Heights. Last week my office and a constituent met with Kirtland Air Force Base leadership including Col. Robert Maness, Commander of the 377^th Air Base Wing and Col. Joseph Hastings, Vice Commander of the 58^th Special Operations Unit. The Base leadership is committed to being a good neighbor to the SE Heights of Albuquerque and is willing and open to working with us. However, they did make it quite clear that they are unable to stop their operations and trainings they perform on the base. Their operations at KAFB are critical to the mission of the United State Air Force.

They assured us that they take noise complaints seriously and shared with us that over the last couple of months, there has been a major spike in noise complaints. I believe that if the “spike” becomes the norm, then they will be forced to modify their operations. I encourage folks to continue filing noise complaints with KAFB.

I offered to host a public meeting with the 377^th Air Base Wing and 58^th Special Operations Unit to allow the public to speak about the noise coming from the base. They were hesitant to host a separate meeting from their regularly scheduled Citizen Advisory Board Meetings. The next CAB Meeting is November 23, 2010 and they encouraged residents to attend this meeting and speak to this issue during the public comment period. Again, if there are number of residents speaking to this issue, they will be forced to revisit their operations.

Col. Maness and Col. Hastings were supportive of an idea to have a regularly scheduled CAB Meeting being devoted specifically to the noise issue from the base. CAB Meetings are held quarterly, so we look forward to that meeting which will occur next calendar year (April, 2011). Col. Hastings proposed having ongoing meetings on noise in the early fall of each year, as this is the time of year where they usually see a spike in noise complaints.

I would like to thank everyone for participating in this discussion and would like to encourage you to continue your participation. Keep filing your noise complaints with KAFB by calling the Public Affairs Office at 846-5991 or email at marie.vanover@kirtland.af.mil. My office will continue to keep in communication with KAFB and you can contact me 768-3152 or email me at reygarduno@cabq.gov or my staff person Julian Moya at julianmoya@cabq.gov.