The Truax Field Air National Guard Base on Madison’s North Side is one of five proposed sites around the country for a new fighter jet program that would host a fleet of F-35s. This program would highly impact thousands of residents in the area with increased noise levels and pollution, safety concerns, and local economic impacts.

On today’s episode, we learn about the opposition to bringing the F-35s to Madison with guest host Gil Halsted. He is joined in the studio by Tom Boswell and Vicki Berenson of Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin. Along with a host of listener callers, they articulate a variety of concerns around the F-35s from the environmental impact—including water pollution and unhealthy noise levels—to money spent on the global arms race at the expense of domestic needs.

To learn more about the opposition to siting F-35s at Truax and read summaries of the National Guard’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), you can visit Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin’s website.

The public comment period on the EIS runs from now until September 27. You can submit your comments online here.

There will be a public meeting about the F-35 program on Thursday, September 12 at the Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center. An open house will be held from 5:00–6:30 PM. The National Guard Bureau and representatives of the 115th Fighter Wing will give a formal presentation from 6:30–8:00 PM. More information available here.